Summary of A Room With A View E. M. Forster Free Synopsis and Quotes Online
English author E. M. Forster's 1908 book A Room with a View is about a young woman living in the conservative England of the Edwardian era. The tale, which takes place in both Italy and England, combines a romance with a lighthearted examination of English society at the turn of the 20th century. In 1985, Merchant Ivory created a successful film adaptation.
Part 1 Summary
Early 1900s England's upper middle class women are starting to life more autonomous, risk-taking lives when the book is set. In the first chapter, Miss Lucy Honeychurch travels through Italy with her overly picky spinster cousin Miss Charlotte Bartlett, who also serves as a chaperone. The women of the Pensione Bertolini in Florence are whining about their accommodations when the book opens. Despite being promised apartments with views of the River Arno, they were given ones that looked out onto a dull courtyard. They are engaged in "peevish wrangling" when Mr. Emerson, a different guest, impromptu offers to switch rooms. He asserts, "Women prefer looking at a view; men don't," despite the fact that he and his son George both have rooms with views of the Arno.
Charlotte declines the proposal, in part because she disapproves of the Emersons' eccentric lifestyle and because she believes it would subject them to a "unseemly responsibility." Charlotte is persuaded to accept the offer by another visitor, Mr. Beebe, an Anglican priest; she then asserts that the Emersons are socialists.
The following day, Lucy spends a "full morning" with Miss Eleanor Lavish, a writer who promises to take her on an adventure, in the Basilica of Santa Croce. Lucy's Baedeker travel guide is taken away by Lavish, who promises to show her the "real Italy." The two become lost while traveling to Santa Croce after making a wrong turn. They finally arrive at the square in front of the church after spending hours meandering through different streets and piazzas, but Lavish—who still has Lucy's Baedeker—leaves the younger woman behind to chase an old friend.
Within the church, Lucy encounters the Emersons. Despite the other guests' perceptions that Mr. Emerson's behavior is a little unpleasant, Lucy discovers that she likes them both and encounters them regularly while visiting Florence. George Emerson and Lucy Emerson witness separate murders while exploring Piazza della Signoria. George must assist Lucy in standing up because she is too horrified to do so on her own. She asks him to find the photos she dropped not far from the murder site once she is discovered.
Lucy notices how boyish George is when he finds them, but because they are smeared in blood, he throws them into the river before telling her. Before going back to the pensione, they make a pit stop by the River Arno and have a private discussion.
Lucy leaves Miss Lavish and Miss Bartlett to their chitchat on a hillside and goes looking for Mr. Beebe. The driver directs Lucy to where George is taking in the scenery after misinterpreting Lucy's poor Italian. He takes Lucy in his arms and kisses her after being overcome by her beauty in the middle of a field of violets. Charlotte, who is astonished and angry but more upset by her own failure as a chaperone, interrupts them. Lucy makes a commitment to Charlotte that she won't speak to her mother about the "insult" George has given Charlotte. The following day, before Lucy can say goodbye to George, the two women depart for Rome.
Quotes
Part 2 Summary
Lucy spends time in Rome with Cecil Vyse, a man she knew from England. In Italy, Cecil repeatedly asks Lucy to marry him, but she declines both times. As Part Two opens, Lucy has traveled back to her childhood home of Windy Corner in Surrey, England. Cecil makes another proposal, and this time she says yes. Despite his disdain for country life, Cecil is a refined London aesthete whose position and status make him a desirable match. He is a fairly humorous figure who is snobby and puts himself in pretentious airs.
The Emersons, who learnt about the property's availability after a fortuitous encounter with Cecil in London, are the new tenants of a nearby villa, according to the vicar, Mr. Beebe. In order to get even with Sir Harry Otway, the owner of the villa, who Cecil (who considers himself to be highly democratic) views as a snob, he persuaded them to visit the village. Lucy is upset with Cecil because she made a shaky arrangement for the old Misses Alan to rent the villa, who were also visitors at the Pensione Bertolini.
As Mr. Beebe presents Freddy, the brother of Lucy, to the Emersons, fate takes an ironic turn. For "a bathe" at a local pond in the woods, Freddy invites George. Mr. Beebe, Freddy, and George travel there. After taking off their clothes and diving in, Freddy and George persuaded Mr. Beebe to join them. The men had a good time rushing through the bushes and splashing around in the pond until Lucy, her mother, and Cecil come across them after cutting through the woods on their walk.
Later, Freddy extends a tennis invitation to George to Windy Corner. Despite Lucy's initial embarrassment upon meeting George and Cecil, she decides to be polite. By pacing and reading aloud from a light romance book that features a moment that suspiciously resembles George kissing Lucy in Fiesole, Cecil upsets everyone. George finds Lucy alone herself in the yard and gives her another kiss. Lucy understands that Charlotte must have told her about the kiss because the book was written by Miss Lavish, the writer-friend from Florence.
In Florence, where George and Lucy had fled without Mrs. Honeychurch's permission, the book comes to a close. However, Lucy now knows that Charlotte had not discouraged or prevented her from entering and running into Mr. Emerson on that fateful day despite knowing he was there. Although the appendix suggests a reconciliation with her family, the novel ends with the promise of lifelong love for both Lucy and George despite the fact that she "had estranged Windy Corner, possibly forever."