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.