Paul Morel is a budding artist, who is forced to choose between his opinionated, but caring mother, and the woman she detests, his one true love. Torn between his passion for Miriam, and his need for independence, versus his attachment for his mother, Paul struggles to define himself and his life. Set in the Nottinghamshire coal fields in the early 1900s, this semi-autobiographical novel is one of the most-read novels of the 20th century. Rated #9 on the 100 best novels list, this is widely regarded as D. H. Lawrence's masterpiece.
About the Author: David Herbert Lawrence was born on September 11, 1885, in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England, the fourth child in the family. His father was a miner and his mother a teacher who worked in a lace factory. Young David attended Beauvale Board School from 1891 to 1898. The school has since been renamed after him. He began working in a factory in 1901, but came down with severe pneumonia, which nearly killed him. While recovering, he developed a love of books, then became a teacher in 1902. In 1907, he won a short story competition gaining recognition for his writing ability. In 1910, he published his first novel, "The White Peacock," but his mother died shortly thereafter, causing him to take a year off from writing. In 1911, he met a publisher, who acted as a mentor, working on "Sons and Lovers." In 1911, he battled pneumonia again, and left teaching to write full-time. In 1912, he met Frieda von Richthofen Weekley, the wife of one of his professors, a woman six years older, with three children, and they fell in love and eloped to Germany. He was arrested as a British spy, but eventually released. The couple actually walked across the Alps from Germany to Italy. She received her divorce in 1914, and they were legally married shortly thereafter. Lawrence's views on World War I were unpopular, and he was accused of being a German spy. The couple eventually left Britain and traveled the world, eventually settling in the United States for three years. In 1925, David contracted malaria and tuberculosis, nearly dying once again. In 1927, the family moved to Florence, Italy, where he wrote "Lady Chatterley's Lover," in 1928, his last novel. It was here that he renewed his friendship with Aldous Huxley and became a serious oil painter. Lawrence died on March 2, 1930, from tuberculosis, in Vence, France, at the age of 44. He was cremated, his ashes interred in New Mexico.