“Life is easy to chronicle, but bewildering to practice.”

E M Forster – A Room with a View

When I left Australia to return to the UK in 2011, I packed up some books that I hadn’t read and had them shipped over. There were two in particular which I had purchased from Borders in Melbourne Central way back in 2010 that were still unread until recently.  One of those books was called A Room with a View by a writer by the name of E M Forster.

Edward Morgan Forster was born in London on the 1^st of January 1879. His name was officially Henry Morgan Forster but he was baptised Edward by accident. As his father was also Edward Morgan, he was referred to as Morgan to distinguish him from dear old dad.

Forster was left a tidy sum of 8000 quid by an aunt which in those days was enough to live on, so he became a writer. Don’t get me wrong, Forster went to school and graduated from Cambridge, but luckily for us his chosen profession was writing.

Although E M Forster has several novels, sadly I have only read A Room with a View. The story of Lucy Honeychurch, her trip to Italy and her choice between two suitors is delightful.  It’s the type of book that I could easily read more than once. I do intend to read his other works because I kind of get the feeling that I’m missing out if I don’t.

Forster Country Hertforshire

 

If you catch the train from Kings Cross Saint Pancras to Stevenage, there’s a beautiful section of countryside north of St Nicholas’ Church informally known as Forster country.  A monument dedicated to Forster stands behind the church and the house that he grew up in – Rooks Nest, is close by. He apparently set the story Howards End in that part of the country.

Monument to E M Forster, Stevenage.

After Forster passed away at the tender age of 91, a novel called Maurice was published.  This explores a homosexual relationship and there are debates on how much of the story is based on his life and personal activities.

Like I mentioned earlier, A Room with a View is a book that I could easily read over and learn something new each time and as I always say at the end of my blog, Once upon a time in London, a writer produced a story that taught me that this book is *one of the moments for which the world was made.

*A Room with a View