1913High Modernism
Sons and Lovers
D. H. Lawrence · 1885–1930 · England
Why it matters
A Nottinghamshire mining family: a fierce mother, a coarse father, and a son torn between them and the women he loves. The first great English novel of the industrial working class, drawn from Lawrence's own life.
At a glance
bildungsromanfamily saga
Difficulty 5/10medium pace420 pagesEmotionally dense, psychologically probing prose despite a straightforward chronology.
Deep dive
A miner's son loves his mother so completely that every other woman in the novel has to lose to her, one way or another.
