A Room with a View

In this enduring classic by E. M. Forster, young Lucy Honeychurch travels to Florence under the watchful supervision of her prim cousin, Charlotte. Brought up amidst the strict conventions of middle-class Edwardian England, Lucy expects a well-ordered journey. Instead, her stay at the Pension Bertolini introduces her to lively, nonconformist figures who unsettle her tidy world, including the free-thinking Mr Emerson and his earnest, passionate son George.

Upon returning to England, Lucy finds herself trapped between social propriety and genuine feeling, embodied in her engagement to the thoroughly respectable but lifeless Cecil Vyse. Forster balances social comedy and romance to explore how travel and open-hearted encounters can question rigid expectations, prompting Lucy to decide between societal duty and the stirrings of her own heart.