A Room with a View

Details: It makes a difference doesn’t it, whether we fully fence ourselves in, or whether we are fenced out by the barriers of others? British writer E.M. Forster’s novel, A Room with a View (1908) revolves around Lucy Honeychurch, a young woman who lives in socially conservative Edwardian England. The story, set in Italy and England, is both a romance and a critique of English society in the early 1900s, when upper-middle class English women were starting to dream of leading more independent lives. Lucy’s journey to Italy with her prim and proper cousin, Charlotte Bartlett, is packed with adventure, romance, encounters with people from other cultures, and epiphanies. She falls in love with George Emerson during her stay in Italy, but back home in England, her fiancée is eagerly waiting for her return. Freedom and a whole range of possibilities beckon as Lucy tries to resolve the dilemma and build a new life for herself.