Novel
Howards End
E. M. Forster · 1910
Synopsis
Margaret and Helen Schlegel live in London with their young brother, on private incomes, among concerts and conversations. Margaret befriends Ruth Wilcox, wife of a businessman, who cares above all for her old family house in Hertfordshire. Meanwhile, at a concert, Helen carries off by mistake the umbrella of a poor young clerk, Leonard Bast, who thus enters their lives. Ruth dies leaving a pencilled note that gives the house to her friend; the family, gathered together, decides that this paper does not count and burns it, without telling the person concerned.
Context
The house of the book is the one its author lived in from the age of four to fourteen, Rooksnest, near Stevenage, in Hertfordshire. It had once been called Howards, after the family that had farmed it for centuries; he learned this only after writing the novel. A photograph of the elm that stood there, kept among his papers, bears on the back, in his hand, the note that it is the only record of that tree. The novel appeared in 1910 and opens with the letters Helen writes from the house to her sister.
Who it is for
A novel of medium length, with three families from different backgrounds; translated into French in 1950 by Charles Mauron, the only translation.
Prizes and reception
Adapted for the cinema by James Ivory in 1992, with Emma Thompson and Anthony Hopkins; the film received three Oscars.
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