Room with a View. Lucy Honeychurch, a young upper middle class woman, visits Italy under the charge of her older cousin Charlotte. At their pension, or guesthouse, in Florence, they are given rooms that look into the courtyard rather than out over the river Arno. Mr. Emerson, a fellow guest, generously offers them the rooms belonging to himself and his son George. Although Charlotte is offended by Mr. Emerson's lack of tact and propriety, she finally does agree to the switch. Lucy is an avid young pianist. Mr. Beebe, watches her passionate playing and predicts that someday she will live her life with as much gusto as she plays the piano.

Howards End, novel by E.M. Forster, published in 1910. The narrative concerns the relationships that develop between the imaginative, life-loving Schlegel family—Margaret, Helen, and their brother Tibby—and the apparently cool, pragmatic Wilcoxes—Henry and Ruth and their children Charles, Paul, and Evie.

Maurice Hall, a student at the University of Cambridge, reaches maturity and self-awareness when he accepts his homosexuality and also renounces the bourgeois values in which he has always believed. He further resolves his conflicts about class consciousness when he takes as a lover Alec Scudder, a gamekeeper.