The Longest Journey (Bantam Classic)

Bookish, sensitive Rickie Elliot is quite at home amid the placid and scholarly environs of Cambridge. That is, until he falls for the shallow young Agnes Pembroke. Forster skewers undergraduate philosophical debate, the opening day of a public school, and tea with a frightful dowager, as the dire consequences of mistaken love later developed in Howard's End take their toll. Together, these elements combine to form a deft blend of tragedy and social satire that readers will savor.