Set in the elegant Edwardian world of Cambridge undergraduate life, this story by a master novelist introduces us to Maurice Hall when he is fourteen. We follow him through public school and Cambridge, and on into his father's firm, Hill and Hall, Stock Brokers.

In a highly structured society, Maurice is a conventional young man in almost every way, "stepping into the niche that England had prepared for him"—except that he is homosexual.

Maurice initially embarks on a relationship with one of his fellow students at Cambridge, the highly intellectual Clive Durham. However, after Clive breaks his heart by abruptly ending their relationship, Maurice initially looks for a way of 'curing' his homosexuality, before eventually accepting himself and entering into a committed relationship with the lower-class Alec Scudder.

Written during 1913 and 1914, immediately after Howards End, and not published until 1971, Maurice was ahead of its time in its theme and in its affirmation that love between men can be happy.