English rose Lucy Honeychurch is touring Italy with her prim spinster cousin Charlotte Bartlett. Charlotte is quick to step in when Lucy makes the mistake of fraternising with the lower-class Mr Emerson and his son George at their Florentine mansion. However, when she witnesses Lucy and George actually kissing, she has no option but to whisk Lucy away to Rome. Back home at the family’s Surrey estate Lucy becomes engaged to the eminently suitable (but priggish and pretentious) Cecil Vyse. Charlotte has sworn Lucy to secrecy over the kiss with George, but will Lucy be able to repress her feelings when she discovers that the Emersons have taken a house in the village?

With its cast of vivid characters, this elegant comedy, written in 1908, is widely recognised as one of the finest novels of the twentieth century. The award- winning Merchant Ivory film adaptation in 1985 was voted number nine in The Guardian’s list of the best romantic films of all time.