E. M. Forster's debut novel, Where Angels Fear to Tread, was released in 1905. Set in Italy, it explores the tragic interactions between an English family and a young Italian man.

Forster's third novel, A Room With a View (1908), is also set in Italy. This story similarly highlights a cultural clash, juxtaposing the traditional behavior of English characters with the more spontaneous lifestyle of the Italian characters.

Regarded as second only to A Passage to India among Forster's works, Howards End (1910) offers an intricate examination of English class distinctions and the tense relationship between aesthetic and materialistic perspectives on life. As an Edwardian novel of manners, it stands as the most "English" of Forster's novels. In this book, Forster introduces the motto that encapsulates his philosophy on living a complete life: "Only connect." ("Only connect the prose and passion, and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height.")

Forster articulated his thoughts on the novel as a literary form in a series of lectures he delivered at Cambridge University in 1927. These lectures were subsequently compiled and published that same year under the title Aspects of the Novel. In this work, Forster references various novels by prominent authors and discusses the attributes that contribute to a successful novel.

Forster provided a factual recount of his travels in India in his nonfiction work, The Hill of Devi, published in 1953.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's 1975 novel Heat and Dust follows the parallel experiences of an Englishwoman and her great-niece in India, separated by about sixty years. Jhabvala also penned the screenplays for Ismail Merchant and James Ivory's film adaptations of Forster's A Room With a View, Maurice, and Where Angels Fear to Tread.

English author Paul Scott wrote a series of four novels collectively known as The Raj Quartet. Set in India from 1942 to 1947, the series examines the relationships between the English and Indians during the years leading up to India's independence. The four novels are The Jewel in the Crown (1966), The Day of the Scorpion (1968), The Towers of Silence (1972), and A Division of Spoils (1972).