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Have read "Room With a View" and "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and loved them both. I really loved the Merchant-Ivory movie version of "Room With a View". What I found interesting about WAFtT was the comparison between the reserved Englishman and the emotional, impulsive Italian and have read what other people think about this aspect of the story. Something that struck me about the two cultures was the fact that women seemed to take on the reverse of what their male counterparts experienced. The Italian women were rarely seen in public and were expected to be subservient to the men in their lives while the English women were more vocal and seemed to have more power and position in their country. Even though their society was thought to be more repressed than the earthy Italians, the English women were more advanced in society. Anyone else agree with this?

This is also one of my all-time favorite books. I loved the fact that Rochester could see past Jane's "plain Jane" exterior. He loved her for who she was, warts and all as they say. I think most every woman would like to have a relationship like this. Also, regardless of the cost, Jane stayed true to herself and her beliefs. She was very independent and though she wanted nothing more than to stay with Rochester, she went her own way when she discovered he was already married. I liked her old fashioned values and ability to stick with them no matter what.

I'm so glad to find this forum! I love to read and am happy to find other people who feel the same. I'm always looking for what to read next and hope to find some new ideas here.

I discovered Norah Lofts' books years ago in the 70s (showing my age:smile2:) and after reading the first (A Wayside Tavern), was completely hooked. Her believable characters, plausible stories, plot twists, and general ability to tell a good story made me read as many of her books as possible. I love good historical fiction and while she didn't include a huge amount of detail in her stories, there was just enough to make it interesting. Some of my favorite books were: "A Scent of Cloves", "A Wayside Tavern", "The Road to Bethlehem"(not sure if this is the correct title),"Knight's Acre", "The Concubine", and the list goes on and on. I've found most of her books in the public library but a lot of them are available through Amazon(hope this is okay to mention) and I noticed that some of her books are being brought back in reprints. This is great news since the stories are timeless. I hope you enjoy these books as much as I have.