E.M. Forster's A Passage to India

E.M. Forster first entered my consciousness when I heard Jonathan Franzen recommend him at a book festival, and I continue to appreciate the nudge. Perhaps no author writes with such a powerful combination of astuteness and restraint. His worlds and words endure. Anytime I meet someone with the last name Moore, for instance, I think of the group of Indians outside the courthouse chanting “ess missus Moore, ess missus Moore”, as they do in his all-time classic A Passage to India. A Room With A View and Howard's End also hold up as masterpieces. It’s an impossible task, but should someone force a selection, I would hear arguments as to why E.M. Forster is the greatest English-language novelist of all time.