A Room with a View Hardcover - 1993

E.M. Forster’s A Room with a View is a novel about a young woman in the repressed culture of the Edwardian age. In this, the story is both a romance and a critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century. A Room with a View was the first novel that Forster started, but it wasn’t published until 1908, after he’d written and published two other books—Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905) and The Longest Journey (1907). As one of Forster’s earlier works, A Room with a View is not as mature or complex as Howard's End (1910) and Passage to India (1924). However, its strength lies in its vivid cast of characters, humorous dialogue, and comedic play upon the manners of the day.

A Room with a View is ranked 79th on Modern Library’s “100 Best” English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel has been adapted for stage, film, radio, and television. Perhaps most notable is the 1985 award-winning film adaptation starring Maggie Smith, Helena Bonham Carter, and Daniel Day-Lewis.

When Lucy Honeychurch, visiting Italy, mentions the lack of a view from her room, George Emerson and his father offer to swap. But Lucy's suspicions that the Emersons are the wrong sort of people seem confirmed when George impulsively kisses her during a picnic in the Tuscan countryside. Soon, however, thoughts of that kiss have Lucy questioning her engagement to boorish, if utterly acceptable, Cecil Vyse. All in all, the situation presents quite a muddle for a young woman who wishes to be absolutely truthful—even when she's lying to herself about the most important aspects of life and love.E.M. Forster's brilliant comedy of manners shines a gently ironic light on the attitudes and customs of the British middle class at the beginning of the 20th century.

Details

• Title A Room with a View
• Author E. M. Forster
• Binding Hardcover
• Edition Reprint ED
• Pages 229
• Language ENG
• Publisher Barnes Noble, New York
• Date 1993-01
• ISBN 9781566190947