Although Forster showed the novel to a select few of his trusted friends (among them Lytton Strachey, Edward Carpenter, Christopher Isherwood, and Xiao Qian), it was published only posthumously, in 1971. Forster did not seek to publish it during his lifetime, believing it to have been unpublishable during that period due to public and legal attitudes to same-sex love. A note found on the manuscript read: "Publishable, but worth it?". Forster was determined that his novel should have a happy ending, but also feared that this would make the book liable to prosecution while male homosexuality remained illegal in the UK.