Howards End: Original and Unabridged

by , explores social conventions, codes of conduct, and personal relationships in turn-of-the-century England. Considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece it is included in the list of the most important English-language novels of the 20th century. The story revolves around three families in England at the beginning of the 20th century: the Wilcoxes, rich capitalists with a fortune made in the Colonies; the half-German Schlegel siblings, whose cultural pursuits have much in common with the real-life Bloomsbury Group; and the Basts, an impoverished young couple from a lower-middle-class background. The idealistically motivated, well read, highly intelligent Schlegel sisters seek to help the struggling Basts, wishing at the same time to rid the Wilcoxes of some of their deep-seated social and economic prejudices.