Howards End- Finished

I really liked this book and I think that I may have to read some more of E. M. Foster. It has all the goodies that make a book worth reading, intrigue, social clashes, layers of personalities. The main characters as I said the day before are the Schlegel's and the Wilcoxes, with a Mr. Bates thrown in to turn up the volume. The Schlegel's and the Wilcoxes do not get along due to two things: the first is the impetuous flirtation that had the Schlegel's Aunt Juley jumping on a train to stop an engagement that had already run its course. The second is the fact that Mrs. Wilcox left Margaret Schlegel her home when she died. Now though the men and daughter in this family do not want Howards End, because they dislike the Schlegel family they do not tell her this and say it is the whim of a sick woman. The Schlegel family consists of two woman and a brother, who really does not play apart in this book, except to sit back and refuse to get involved. The Wilcoxes consist of the father, two sons and a daughter. Both the families feel superior to each other. Where does Mr. Bates come in, he is thrown in around the 6th chapter, he meets the Schlegel girls at a concert that he has spent considerable money to go to. His umbrella is stolen by Helen Schlegel and he goes with Margaret to retrieve it, realizes he is outclassed and leaves in distress. We learn he is in a miserable relationship, wants to improve himself by reading and reciting passages. He is a clerk and somehow ends up ruining his life completely after meeting with the girls once to clear up the matter of his wife. A carefully woven story that takes us into social conflicts of the time, snobbery, woman's rights, rising fear of England and Germany having a war, and the life of English people and the changes with time. There is even a woman's reading club, so might be fun to discuss this book at a book club. Highly recommended Oh I did read the introduction and I am glad I waited until I finished the book because it would not have nearly been as fun, if I had known all that was going to happen before reading it.