While the occasionally explicit erotic scenes contained in the stories gathered in this collection provide some insight into the literary themes that led to the censorship of D. H. Lawrence’s Lady Chatterley’s Lover, it’s also true that they present another facet of the author’s work, one no less intense or suspenseful: the tortured psyche of characters who are locked in a struggle with themselves, and with the repressive norms of a society that, in many ways, seems to run contrary to human nature. Lawrence’s unceasing questioning of rigid social conventions, gender roles, and sexual assumptions form an integral part of each of the five stories in this compendium, and will allow readers to understand the considerable disconnect that existed between the writer and what was considered morally acceptable during his time.
