A Room with a View characters

Appears from the start

A young Englishwoman traveling in Florence with her older cousin. Lucy is perceptive and emotionally responsive, especially through music, but she has been trained to distrust impulses that do not fit the manners and expectations of her social world.

Appears from the start

Lucy's older cousin and chaperone in Italy. Anxious about propriety and appearances, she supervises Lucy closely and suspects social danger in any unconventional encounter, even while her own choices sometimes help such encounters occur.

Appears from the start

A quiet, troubled young Englishman staying at the Pension Bertolini with his father. He pays little attention to polite convention and seems unable to conceal his intense response to beauty, violence, and other people.

Appears from the start

George's outspoken father. A former journalist with unconventional religious and social views, he offers his room to Lucy and Charlotte simply because it has the view they wanted and is puzzled when class etiquette makes the offer suspect.

Appears from the start

An English clergyman who knows Lucy's family and happens to be staying at the same pension in Florence. Good-humored and observant, he moves comfortably between conventional society and people whom that society finds unusual.

First appears in chapter 2

A novelist at the Pension Bertolini who presents herself as daring, independent, and knowledgeable about Italy. She dismisses guidebooks and promises Lucy an unscripted encounter with the city, but her theatrical self-confidence is not always matched by consideration for others.

First appears in chapter 5

An English chaplain in Florence who prides himself on refined knowledge of Italian art and society. He disapproves of the Emersons' beliefs and behavior and treats them as socially and morally unsuitable companions.

First appears in chapter 8

A cultivated, wealthy young man who has twice asked Lucy to marry him. On returning to her Surrey home, he proposes a third time. He values taste, restraint, and social distinction, and Lucy sees accepting him as a mature choice.

First appears in chapter 8

Lucy's practical, affectionate mother, mistress of Windy Corner in Surrey. She cares less for fashionable ideas than Cecil does and values directness, family loyalty, and the lively domestic world he tends to patronize.

First appears in chapter 8

Lucy's younger brother. Cheerful, physical, and socially unguarded, Freddy quickly befriends George when the Emersons move nearby, paying little attention to the class anxieties surrounding them.

First appears in chapter 3

One of two elderly unmarried English sisters traveling together in Italy. Warm, sociable, and fond of travel, she later offers Lucy the prospect of joining the sisters on a journey to Greece.

First appears in chapter 3

Catharine's quieter sister and traveling companion. The two Miss Alans belong to the pension's circle of English tourists and represent a modest form of independence outside marriage.

First appears in chapter 11

Cecil's sophisticated mother, whose carefully arranged London home reflects the aesthetic and social world he prefers. Lucy visits her while engaged to Cecil and feels how far that world stands from Windy Corner.