Other editions of book Where Angels Fear to Tread

Penguin Audio presents E.M. Forster's Where Angels Fear to Tread, adapted for listening and now available as a digital audiobook as part of the Penguin English Library series. This abridged version is read by Stephen Fry. "I had got an idea that everyone here spent their lives in making little sacrifices for objects they didn't care for, to please people they didn't love; that they never learned to be sincere - and, what's as bad, never learned how to enjoy themselves." E. M. Forster's first novel is a witty comedy of manners that is tinged with tragedy. It tells the story of Lilia Herriton, who proves to be an embarrassment to her late husband's family as, in the small Tuscan town of Monteriano, she begins a relationship with a much younger Italian man - classless, uncouth, and highly unsuitable. A subtle attack on decorous Edwardian values and a humanely sympathetic portrayal of the clash of two cultures, Where Angels Fear to Tread is also a profound exploration of character and virtue. Part of a collection of vintage recordings taken from the Penguin Archives, the Penguin English Library offers affordable, collectable, quality productions that are perfect for on-the-go listening.

On a journey to Tuscany with her young friend and traveling companion Caroline Abbott, widowed Lilia Herriton falls in love with both Italy and a handsome Italian much younger than herself, and decides to stay. Furious, her dead husband's family send Lilia's brother-in-law to Italy to prevent a misalliance, but he arrives too late. Lilia marries the Italian and in due course becomes pregnant again. When she dies giving birth to her child, the Herritons consider it both their right and their duty to travel to Monteriano to obtain custody of the infant so that he can be raised as an Englishman.

When a young English widow takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian, her in-laws are not amused. That the marriage should fail and poor Lilia die tragically are only to be expected. But that Lilia should have had a baby -- and that the baby should be raised as an Italian! -- are matters requiring immediate correction by Philip Herriton, his dour sister Harriet, and their well-meaning friend Miss Abbott.

Forster’s writing is known for its sympathetic nature and that could be seen well throughout his life as he volunteered for the International Red Cross during World War I. In his later years Forster became a well known public figure, first as a broadcaster on BBC radio and then as an honorary fellow of King’s College. Some of Forster’s best known novels are Howards End, A Room with a View, and A Passage to India.

Troublesome family scenarios are E.M. Forster's forte. In his debut novel "Where Angels Fear to Tread," a relatively young English widow named Lilia Herriton goes to Italy at the advice of her deceased husband Charles's family, accompanied by her friend Caroline Abbott, and, in a quaint little town called Monteriano, falls in love with an even younger hustler named Gino Carella and plans to marry him. The news mortifies her former in-laws: How could our Lilia marry a man beneath her class, the idle son of a dentist (a profession not highly regarded by the snobs in those days), a Catholic? Philip Herriton, Lilia's ex-brother-in-law, is immediately dispatched to Monteriano to put a stop to this fiasco, but it's too late; the wedding has already happened, and Philip returns to England with Caroline. Lilia, eager to adjust her life to this poor but picturesque provincial Italian town, finds the social environment completely alien to the one to which she is accustomed in England, and even worse is the fact that Gino, whose friends are impressed that he has been able to score a rich blond Englishwoman, is revealed to be lazy and adulterous. The worst is finally realized when Lilia dies in childbirth delivering a son to Gino. Back in England, the Herritons' connection to Lilia is not so easily broken; a daughter named Irma from her first husband has been left in their care, even though Lilia had been treated with condescension by her mother-in-law and her sister-in-law Harriet while she was married to Charles. Concerned with scandal, the Herritons recoil in fear when, a few months after Lilia's death, Irma receives postcards from Monteriano signed by her "little brother." Philip, his sister Harriet, and Caroline, all convinced of Gino's unsuitableness as a father, especially of a child of English blood, return to Italy to try to retrieve the baby boy. The obvious satire of cavalier Edwardian English attitudes toward Catholic Europe is only a backdrop to the more specific issue of whether the Herritons should assume custody of a baby with whom they have no legal familial relations. Caroline, who begins to sympathize with Gino Caroline means well, of course, but her presumption that Gino would necessarily bring the boy up "badly" is part of the satire.

Troublesome family scenarios are E.M. Forster's forte. In his debut novel "Where Angels Fear to Tread," a relatively young English widow named Lilia Herriton goes to Italy at the advice of her deceased husband Charles's family, accompanied by her friend Caroline Abbott, and, in a quaint little town called Monteriano, falls in love with an even younger hustler named Gino Carella and plans to marry him.

Troublesome family scenarios are E.M. Forster's forte. In his debut novel "Where Angels Fear to Tread," a relatively young English widow named Lilia Herriton goes to Italy at the advice of her deceased husband Charles's family, accompanied by her friend Caroline Abbott, and, in a quaint little town called Monteriano, falls in love with an even younger hustler named Gino Carella and plans to marry him.

"Where Angels Fear to Tread" by E. M. Forster. Published by Good Press. Good Press publishes a wide range of titles that encompasses every genre. From well-known classics & literary fiction and non-fiction to forgotten−or yet undiscovered gems−of world literature, we issue the books that need to be read. Each Good Press edition has been meticulously edited and formatted to boost readability for all e-readers and devices. Our goal is to produce eBooks that are user-friendly and accessible to everyone in a high-quality digital format.

Hot-headed Lilia is seen as nothing but a vulgar source of embarrassment to her late husband's family, so her decision to embark on a year abroad in Tuscany is welcomed by her uptight and snobbish mother-in-law. Yet Lilia doesn't stay away from scandal long; her announcement that she is to marry the charismatic but ill-bred Gino is met with horror by the rest of the family. Their union ends in tragedy and violence as her English relatives confront their Italian counterparts, as well as their own cultural values, amidst the beauty of the Tuscan countryside.

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