A Room with a View - E. M. Forster

Forster's classic tale of love prevailing over the rigid norms of a hierarchical British society (which inspired the critically acclaimed 1986 film) was first published in 1908. First published in 1908, A Room with a View portrays the love of a British woman for an expatriate living in Italy. Caught up in a world of social snobbery, Forster's heroine, Lucy Honeychurch, finds herself constrained by the claustrophobic influence of her British guardians, who encourage her to take up with a well-connected boor. In the end, however, Lucy takes control of her own fate and finds love with a man whose free spirit reminds her of a room with a view.