About this title: The domineering Mrs. Herriton dispatches her son Philip and her daughter Harriet to Italy to bring back the baby born of her deceased son's wife Lilia and an Italian named Gino. Lilia's former chaperone, Caroline, goes with them, hoping to adopt the baby to atone for her laxness in letting Lilia get mixed up with Gino in the first place. ...
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Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Vintage Books USA, New York
Date Published: 1992
ISBN-13:9780679736349ISBN:0679736344
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. VG/NW @philabooks|booksellers. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 192 p. Audience: General/trade. read more
"Interesting to read because of the characters' attitudes towards class & nationality. I like the way the book heightens that tension through the birth of a child, because in my experience having a baby really brings out the conflict between each person's values in a way no other form of co-existence does.
At first the book was hard for me to get a handle on because I couldn't figure out who the narrator was - whoever it was supposed to be, it was someone who was critical of everyone. A story from that time period with no hero?"
"This was the first book I've read by EM Forster. I found it a bit difficult to get into at the beginning, in part because the language was different, and also because it had a slow start; but once a few pages in, it flowed unlike any book I've ever read before. I recently returned from a trip to Tuscany, and I could clearly see the scenes he was depicting, and it took me back to that little village I, myself, was in only a few months ago. The characters seemed a bit hollow to begin with, but, as the story went on, their intricacies emerged and they grew into people that I couldn't help but empathize with. My heart broke with theirs and sang, too, with their joy. A very enjoyable read, I would recommend this book to anyone."
"Widow Lilia Herriton, accompanied by her companion Miss Abbott, leaves daughter Irma and Edwardian England behind for a year of refinement in Italy with the approval of her in-laws. Before long, however, she finds herself married and expecting another child with the Italian son of a dentist. A dentist! The remaining Herritons, concerned more with their standing within society suffering from Lilia's scandalous indiscretion, embark on a mission to rescue Lilia, then her newborn Italian child, and ultimately their reputation. I particularly enjoyed the author's humorous insights into the English class system and its compulsions with keeping up appearances, even at the expense of morality and enjoying a life lived openly and with more honesty."
"a slow start but as always with e m forster, excellent character development that pulls the reader into the story. the intertwining of english upper class society and their christian self-righteous faith is clearly presented in this book -- a story of the stalwart, proper englishman "lording" it over the (dirty) italian rogue/peasant. forster is good at these dynamics; he knew well his own cultural milieu and presents their internal and unconscious hypocrisy with finesse AND humor."
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