Opening: The Pension Bertolini

From A Room with a View by E.M. Forster
The novel opens with Lucy Honeychurch and Charlotte Bartlett complaining about their rooms at the Pension Bertolini in Florence, where the Signora speaks with a Cockney accent rather than authentic Italian, immediately establishing the theme of tourist artifice versus genuine experience.
Chapter 1

The famous opening line: 'The Signora had no business to do it,' said Miss Bartlett, 'no business at all. She promised us south rooms with a view close together, instead of which here are north rooms, looking into a courtyard, and a long way apart.'

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Chapter 1

Mr. Emerson's startling offer: 'I have a view, I have a view... This is my son... his name's George. He has a view too.' Sets up the central symbol and the social breach.

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