Book excerpt: A Room with a View – When Lucy Honeychurch embarks on a journey of a lifetime to Italy, little does she know that she would fall for the reckless man George, with whom she and co-traveller had exchanged the room with in Florence. In spite of her self-denial about her growing attraction to George Lucy knows in her heart that she cannot marry another man, let alone Cecil Vyse, who is not only downright obnoxious but also overbearing. This book is a classic romance which has also been adapted into a highly successful movie featuring Helena Bonham Carter, Julian Sands, Maggie Smith and Daniel Day-Lewis. Howards End - 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 (Margaret, Helen, and Tibby), whose cultural pursuits have much in common with the Bloomsbury Group; and the Basts, an impoverished young couple from a lower-class background. As fate would have it, their lives are going to be intertwined in such a manner that the secret passions and flying tempers would bring each of the family to the verge of ruin. Can they survive this vortex or will they be ruined forever?