Where Angels Fear to Tread

Where Angels Fear to Tread is a 1905 novel by the British writer E.M. Forster, best known for his later novels A Room With a View (1908) and A Passage to India (1924). Where Angels Fear to Tread covers similar thematic territory to those novels, concerning a young woman, Lilia Herriton, who attempts to escape the snobbery and repression of her life in Edwardian England through a passionate affair with an Italian man from a lower-class background, Gino Carella. Lilia’s story ends unhappily as she realizes that Gino has married her for her money and that she can never be reintegrated into middle-class English life. After her death, her Italian and English families fight for custody of her son by Gino. The novel’s title is taken from a line in Alexander Pope’s 1711 Essay on Criticism: “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

The novel opens as a young widow, Lilia, arrives at the train station in Sawston, England. Lilia has been living with the family of her late husband: Mrs. Herriton and her surviving children, Philip and Harriet. However, Mrs. Herriton, regarding Lilia as vulgar and unsophisticated, despairs of the way Lilia is raising her daughter, Irma; worst of all, she has discovered that Lilia is growing close to a lower-class man. Although Mrs. Herriton is a snob, it is clear that Sawston’s “society” shares her prejudices. Forster makes it clear that Sawston is a place where hypocrisy and repression rule, and where people are more concerned with maintaining appearances than anything else.

To avoid disgrace in the eyes of her neighbors, Mrs. Herriton has decided to send Lilia to Italy. In Italy, Mrs. Herriton hopes, Lilia will not only be separated from her would-be lover, she might also acquire some culture. Meanwhile, the Herritons will keep Irma with them and raise her properly in Lilia’s absence. To keep Lilia from getting into trouble, Mrs. Herriton has appointed a chaperone, Miss Caroline Abbot, who is younger than Lilia, but in the Herritons’ opinion trustworthy.



Lilia is more than happy to comply with this plan: she feels oppressed by the atmosphere of Sawston and the difficulties of raising her daughter. She feels liberated when she arrives in the Italian town of Monteriano, "where one really does feel in the heart of things, and off the beaten track." Lilia is entranced by the passion of the Italian villagers and their lusty, unrestrained attitude to life. However, Forster allows us to glimpse something that Lilia cannot see herself: the Italians’ romantic and familial customs are also very different to those of Sawston, and Lilia may be a little out of her depth.

Lilia falls for a local man, Gino Carella. He is extremely handsome and charming, but the reader can see that he is also selfish and self-absorbed.

Mrs. Herriton learns from Lilia’s mother that Lilia has married “an Italian nobleman.” Suspecting that the truth is otherwise, she dispatches her son Philip to find out. Philip hears the full story from Caroline: Gino, the son of a local dentist, from the Herritons’ perspective is little better than a peasant. Appalled, Philip takes Lilia back to England. The Herritons will have nothing further to do with the disgraced Lilia, but they keep Irma with them since she still bears “the Herriton name” and cannot be allowed to disgrace it.



Lilia, pregnant with Gino’s son, dies in childbirth. The Herritons and Gino fight over custody, and Mrs. Herriton sends Philip and Harriet to Italy to reclaim Lilia’s son. They meet up with Caroline and explain their mission. Caroline agrees to help, but privately she is concerned, believing (correctly) that Mrs. Herriton is concerned only about her family’s reputation and not about the welfare of the child.

Philip and Harriet attempt to persuade Gino to part with his son. Caroline provides ambivalent help. Finally, realizing that nothing will persuade Gino, Harriet kidnaps the baby and makes a hasty escape by carriage—but the carriage overturns on a steep road and the baby dies.

Furious and grief-stricken, Gino confronts Philip, who is overcome with remorse. Having played both sides throughout, Caroline steps in to keep the peace.



Caroline and Philip return to England. Philip has fallen in love with Caroline, and he is planning to declare his love during the journey, but before he can do so, Caroline admits that she has developed feelings for Gino.

Where Angels Fear To Tread explores themes of cultural difference, prejudice, and the tension between family and romantic ties. Forster’s first novel, it established his reputation as a major new voice in British fiction. In 1991, the novel was adapted into a film of the same name, starring Rupert Graves and Helen Mirren. It has also been staged as an opera, which received its first professional performance in 2015 at Opera San Jose.