A Passage to India

You’ve probably seen the movie version of A Passage to India by E. M. Forster. When Adela and her potential mother-in-law, Mrs. Moore, arrive in Chandrapore, India, to visit Moore’s son, they push back against the prejudice they observe in the British. Dr. Aziz, an Indian they befriend, plans an outing for them to the Marabar caves. But in those caves a strange incident occurs, landing the doctor at the center of a scandal. The fiasco reveals how deeply the society is divided by imperialism.

Yet the book doesn’t end with the trial. Forster continues for more than one hundred pages developing the complicated friendship between Dr. Aziz and the one Brit who publicly insisted Aziz was innocent.

Forster (1879–1970) wrote other novels including A Room with a View and Howards End, but this is his most famous. He also wrote Aspects of the Novel, an excellent book on writing fiction. I love about his works that he forces me to keep a dictionary handy.