A Room with a View (1908) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit see section history

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Summary edit see section history

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Characters edit see section history

• Lucy Honeychurch: A young woman from Surrey who doesn't know what she wants. Her piano skills show that she has potential for great passions and the ability to recognize truth even if it means breaking the social codes that are expected of her.
• George Emerson: A young individualist with a passionate desire for truth, and at the beginning of the book, a faltering hopelessness that life is not actually worth living. Though he is of a lower social class, he falls in love with Lucy in Italy, and she becomes a beacon of hope to him in his search for joy and meaning.
• Cecil Vyse: The dislikable man who becomes Lucy's fiance for a short period of time. Cecil is pretentious and despises all the country people of Lucy's town, finding them unsophisticated and coarse in comparison to the affluent London society he is used to. He sees Lucy not for herself but as an abstract vision that he has hung upon her. He treats people without kindness or respect. Cecil tries to be authoritarian and manly, but is actually awkward and self-conscious.
• Mr. Beebe: The rector in Lucy's town, a tactful and pleasant man who aims to use his influence to help various characters. He takes a liking to those who are honest, but sees the good in almost everyone. He supports Lucy all through the book until she decides to marry George, when he oddly turns against the idea.
• Charlotte Bartlett: Lucy's middle-aged cousin and chaperone in Italy.
• Mrs. Honeychurch: Lucy's cheerful, talkative, good-natured and warm-hearted mother, who always says what's on her mind. Her husband is dead.
• Freddy Honeychurch: Lucy's younger brother, who is energetic and loves tennis, swimming and the study of anatomy. He dislikes Cecil and likes George.
• Mr. Eager: The British chaplain in Florence. He is rude to Italians, unkind to the Emersons and perpetuates a rumor that Mr. Emerson murdered his wife.
• Mrs. Vyse: Cecil's mother
• Sir Harry Otway: A local in Lucy's town who buys the two villas, Cissie and Albert, subsequently letting one out to the Emersons.
• Minnie Beebe: Mr. Beebe's niece
• Mr. Floyd: One of Freddy Honeychurch's friends
• Mrs. Butterworth: Add a description of this character.
• Albert
• Alessio Baldovinetti

Quotes edit see section history

• “She was conscious of her discontent; it was new to her to be conscious of it. "The world," she thought, "is certainly full of beautiful things, if only I could come across them."”

  Lucy Honeychurch

• “"The Garden of Eden," pursued Mr. Emerson, still descending, "which you place in the past, is really yet to come. We shall enter it when we no longer despise our bodies."”

• “He daren't let a woman decide. He's the type who's kept Europe back for a thousand years. Every moment of his life he's forming you, telling you what's charming or amusing or ladylike, telling you what a man thinks womanly; and you, you of all women, listen to his voice instead of to your own.”

• “If Miss Honeychurch ever takes to live as she plays, it will be very exciting both for us and for her”

• “It isn't possible to love and to part. You will wish that it was. You can transmute love, ignore it, muddle it, but you can never pull it out of you. I know by experience that the poets are right: love is eternal.”

Setting & Locations edit see section history

• Italy
• Florence: Where Lucy meets George
• London
• Rome: Where Lucy meets Cecil
• Santa Croce
• Tunbridge Wells: Home of Charlotte
• England
• Summer Street
• Loggia
• Fiesole

First Sentence edit see section history

Table of Contents edit see section history

Series & Lists edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. E. M. Forster (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: PR6011.O58R6
• Dewey: 779.28092

Notes for Parents edit see section history

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Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Literature & Fiction › Contemporary
• Books › Literature & Fiction › World Literature › British › Classics › Forster, E.M.

Links to Supplemental Material edit see section history

• Penguin

Movie Connections edit see section history

• A Room With A View (1985) (IMDb): Only proper movie adaptation.

More Books Like This edit see section history