Written in the years following World War I and set in postwar England and Italy, Aaron's Rod questions many of the accepted social and political institutions of Lawrence's generation, and raises issues as valid for our own time as they were for his.

A bleak, unrelenting tale of poverty and loss, Lawrence's expertly crafted novella chillingly examines man's increasing inability to love and be loved. Looking for acceptance from his new congregation, the Reverend Ernest Lindley cannot ignore the fact that his parishioners are far from welcoming.

The lull continued. Then suddenly came sharp orders, and a new direction of the guns, and an intense, exciting activity. Yet at the center the soul remained dark and aloof, alone. But even so, it was the soul that heard the new sound: the new, deep "papp " of a gun that seemed to touch right upon the soul.

Women in Love By David Herbert Lawrence, Tao Editorial (Edited by)

Alvina Houghton, the daughter of a widowed Midlands draper, comes of age just as her father's business is failing. In a desperate attempt to regain his fortune and secure his daughter's proper upbringing, James Houghton buys a theater. Among the traveling performers he employs is Ciccio, a sensual Italian who immediately captures Alvina's attention. Fleeing with him to Naples, she leaves her safe world behind and enters one of sexual awakening, desire, and fleeting freedom.

The tale relates the story of two sisters, daughters of an Anglican vicar, who return from overseas to a drab, lifeless vicarage in the post-First World War East Midlands. Their mother has run off, a scandal that is not talked about by the family. Their new home is dominated by a blind and selfish grandmother along with her mean-spirited, poisonous daughter. The two girls, Yvette and Lucille, risk being suffocated by the life they now lead at the Vicarage. They try their utmost every day to bring colour and fun into their lives. Out on a trip with some friends one Sunday afternoon, Yvette...

First published in 1922, this essay by best-selling author D. H. Lawrence is a counterproposal to the Freudian psychoanalytic theory of the unconscious and the incest motive. It also voices Lawrence's concepts of education, marriage, and social and political action. It is a beautifully written and a nice break from some of the stale texts from the early 20th century on psychoanalysis.

The protagonist of this picaresque novel, Aaron Sisson, is a union official in the coal mines of the English Midlands, trapped in a stale marriage. He is also an amateur, but talented, flautist. At the start of the story he walks out on his wife and two children and decides on impulse to visit Italy. His dream is to become recognised as a professional musician. During his travels he encounters and befriends Rawdon Lilly, a Lawrence-like writer who nurses Aaron back to health when he is taken ill in post-war London. Having recovered his health, Aaron arrives in Florence. Here he moves in...