A Room with a View is a 1908 novel by English writer E. M. Forster, about a young woman in the restrained culture of Edwardian-era England.

Set in Italy and England, the story is both a romance and a humorous critique of English society at the beginning of the 20th century.

The novel is set in the early 1900s as upper-middle-class English women are beginning to lead more independent, adventurous lives.

The following day Lucy spends a "long morning" in the Basilica of Santa Croce, accompanied by Miss Eleanor Lavish, a novelist who promises to lead her on an adventure.

After drifting for hours through various streets and piazzas they eventually make it to the square in front of the church, only for Lavish (who still has Lucy's Baedeker) to abandon the younger woman to pursue an old acquaintance.

Lucy decides to avoid George, partly because she is confused by her feelings and also to placate Charlotte, who grows wary of the eccentric Emersons.

Eager, the Emersons, Miss Lavish, Charlotte and Lucy go on a day trip to Fiesole, a scenic area above Florence, driven in two carriages by Italian drivers.

Cecil is a sophisticated London aesthete whose rank and class make him a desirable match despite his despising country society; he is a rather comic figure, who is snobbish and gives himself pretentious airs.

Lucy is angry with Cecil, as she had tentatively arranged for the elderly Misses Alan, who had also been guests at the Pensione Bertolini, to rent the villa.

The men enjoy themselves, frolicking and splashing in and out of the pond and running through the bushes until Lucy, her mother and Cecil, having taken a short-cut through the woods during their walk, come upon them.

Cecil annoys everyone by pacing around and reading aloud from a light romance novel that contains a scene suspiciously reminiscent of George's kissing Lucy in Fiesole.

Furious with Charlotte for betraying her secret, Lucy forces her cousin to watch as she orders George to leave Windy Corner and never return.

Although Lucy "had alienated Windy Corner, perhaps for ever" (although the appendix implies a reconciliation with her family), the story ends with the promise of lifelong love for both her and George.

Mr. Emerson died during the war, shortly after having a confrontation with police over Lucy's playing the music of a German composer, Beethoven, on the piano.

Despite their wanting to move into Windy Corner after Mrs. Honeychurch's death, Freddy sold the house to support his family, as he was "an unsuccessful but prolific doctor".

Merchant Ivory produced an award-winning film adaptation in 1985 directed by James Ivory and starring Maggie Smith as Charlotte Bartlett, Helena Bonham Carter as Lucy Honeychurch, Judi Dench as Eleanor Lavish, Denholm Elliott as Mr. Emerson, Julian Sands as George Emerson, Daniel Day-Lewis as Cecil Vyse and Simon Callow as The Reverend Mr. Beebe.

It starred father and son actors Timothy and Rafe Spall as Mr Emerson and George, together with Elaine Cassidy as Lucy Honeychurch, Sophie Thompson as Charlotte Bartlett, Laurence Fox as Cecil Vyse, Sinéad Cusack as Miss Lavish, Timothy West as Mr Eager and Mark Williams as Reverend Beebe.

The cast included Karen Ziemba as Charlotte Bartlett, Ephie Aardema as Lucy Honeychurch, Kyle Harris as George Emerson and Will Reynolds as Cecil Vyse.

A reworked version of the musical opened at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theatre[5] on 15 April 2014, following two weeks of previews, and ran through 11 May.

L.A. Theatre Works recorded an audio adaptation of the novel at UCLA's James Bridges Theater in March 2019.

In 2020 Kevin Kwan released his novel Sex and Vanity, a contemporary adaptation, in which the characters are well-connected aristocrats and some are Crazy Rich Asians.