The country house

How can the theft of a cheap umbrella turn into a tragedy? Only in great literature can you recognize life as an interconnected series of events, as in this enjoyable novel, which its author described as his best, and which critics have described for a hundred years as "Forster's timeless masterpiece," and which no reader can claim to know English literature without reading. In "Howards End," a chance encounter brings together the bourgeois Wilcox family and the idealistic, intellectual sisters Margaret and Helen Schlegel. While the intelligent Margaret forms a friendship with Mrs. Wilcox, she receives an unexpected and strange reward, then the impulsive Helen arrives with the young clerk Leonard, who lives on the brink of poverty and failure, committed to another woman who hides an old secret, and dreams of an adventure that will give his life some meaning. Forster skillfully portrays his characters' aspirations for personal and social stability, their collision with the fixed realities of life, and their gradual realization that "the world is built up of neglect and imperfection, and the beauty of the mountain and the river and the setting sun may be nothing but a veneer with which unskilled nature conceals the flaws in its construction." "Howards End" has been adapted numerous times for radio, theater, opera, television, and cinema, receiving widespread public acclaim, success, and awards. This is no surprise, as it is one of the most significant works of Western literature. We present it here in a masterful and beautiful translation by Mohamed Mofeed El-Shobashy.