Howard's End: A BBC Radio 4 Full Cast Dramatisation

by E.M. Forster, Alexandra Mathie (Narrator), Ann Rye (Narrator)

Howards End is a novel by E. M. Forster about social conventions, codes of conduct and relationships in turn-of-the-century England. A strong-willed and intelligent woman refuses to allow the pretensions of her husband's smug English family to ruin her life. Howards End is considered by some to be Forster's masterpiece.

Duration: 01:53:40

Audiobook

First published May 3, 2018

About the author

Edward Morgan Forster, generally published as E.M. Forster, was an English novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is known best for his ironic and well-plotted novels examining class difference and hypocrisy in early 20th-century British society. His humanistic impulse toward understanding and sympathy may be aptly summed up in the epigraph to his 1910 novel Howards End: "Only connect".

He had five novels published in his lifetime, achieving his greatest success with A Passage to India (1924) which takes as its subject the relationship between East and West, seen through the lens of India in the later days of the British Raj.

Forster's views as a secular humanist are at the heart of his work, which often depicts the pursuit of personal connections in spite of the restrictions of contemporary society. He is noted for his use of symbolism as a technique in his novels, and he has been criticised for his attachment to mysticism. His other works include Where Angels Fear to Tread (1905), The Longest Journey (1907), A Room with a View (1908) and Maurice (1971), his posthumously published novel which tells of the coming of age of an explicitly gay male character.

Reviews

[Eloise Sunshine · Rating 3 out of 5]

What is meant to happen, will happen anyway, do what you like.
Fate has it's tricks in store for us, even when we think we can outsmart life in so many ways.

I was glad to find there is also a small TV-series produced about this book, that I will certainly watch as soon as I'll find time for this.
All in all, the dramatised audio version was very nicely done and easy to listen to.

[Reuben · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice enough domestic drama. Nothing much to say.

[Lauryn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dumbass didn’t realize this was the abridged version…will come back to full thing smh

[Miki · Rating 4 out of 5]

The dramatisation of this classic was phenomenal! I haven't read anything written by Forster before, so I didn't know what to expect/hope for. But wow. The only reason that I didn't give it a higher rating is because I wish readers would have been given more character development of Henry (Wilcox) at the end of the novel. I get the feeling that even by the end of the novel, he still believed that, "No education [could] teach a woman logic" (Howard's End).

The best part for me was Margaret Schlegel. She is one of my new favourite heroines!

The next time I read this, I want to read a physical copy.

[Audiobook, borrowed from the library]