When the young English widow Lilia Herriton takes off on the grand tour and along the way marries a penniless Italian, her in-laws are far from 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 of grave concern to Philip Herriton, his dour sister Harriet, and their well-meaning friend Miss Abbott.

E.M. Forster (born January 1, 1879, London) was a British novelist, essayist, and social and literary critic. He is most renowned and admired for his novels Howards End (1910), A Passage to India (1924), and his large body of criticism.