This ironic and compassionate novel addresses the difficulties of friendship between the races in British-ruled India. A Passage to India is a complex, beautifully rendered story of how a young Englishwoman's hallucination that she has been assaulted by a friendly young Indian doctor in an ancient cave gives rise to racial hysteria. This subtle and affecting novel is noted for its strong mystical overtones, it was Forster's last and greatest work and remains a guide to understanding Indian civilization.