"'I certainly never imagined him a lily of the valley.'
'You imagined him something he wasn't. That's just what a woman is. She thinks she knows what's good for a man, and she's going to see he gets it; and no matter if he's starving, he may sit and whistle for what he needs, while she's got him, and is giving him what's good for him.'"
Gertrude Morel, a woman in an unhappy marriage, finds consolation in her children, especially the eldest, William. William moves to London and she is desolate. When William dies, she mourns but turns her attention on her second son, Paul. Paul is in love with Miriam, but their relationship is platonic. Mrs. Morel does not approve of Miriam. Then Paul meets Clara who is married and they fall in love, but she does not want to divorce her husband. Mrs. Morel falls ill and dies and Paul is devastated. He realizes he loves his mother most as she is the only one who held him up amid all the turmoils in his life.
This book explores relationships, within the family, within the social class and sexual relationships, the latter in this book as influenced by the sons' relationship with their mother.
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i remember D.H. Lawrence. i found his book "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in the family library of one of my classmates. we were to write a book report for our english class and i wanted to submit a different report, something that would set me apart from the 'elite' group in high school. our teacher asked me where i got the book; she said it was a banned book. i didn't know it was a banned book, but i told her the book should be required reading for students to learn about sex education. the boys unrelentlessly buggered cecilia, the classmate from whom i borrowed the book, to also lend them the book. in the late seventies, long after i had finished university, i bought my copy of 'sons and lovers' and it's also one of the books that i had lugged with me when i lived in europe and in the middle east. 'sons and lovers' is a more interesting novel than 'lady chatterley's lover'. trust me.
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we had a heavy downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning in the late afternoon and heavy clouds throughout the day. when at 7:30 the clouds disappeared, i ventured off to the nearest parkette to shoot some dew-laden foliage. found a hostas plant not yet devoured by the slugs. this is what i got. processed in picnik with mirror framing and name tag.
@daveanajao - thank you, dave. this is a 'blind shot'. the flowers are too near the ground and they are facing down so i had to put my camera, with the flash on, on the grass looking up. i was surprised that there were two bees in one of the flowers. surprise!
@pamfromcalgary - thank you, pam. i wasn't really a rebel. just wanted to get away from 'the 3 musketeers' and 'don quixote' book reports everyone submitted, and also for the teacher to not get bored.
very neat effect you created with the flowers -- and I, too, was delighted to read what a rebel you were in high school! Good for you! Down with boring books and boring book reports!
@danig - ha! i'm doing hat tricks...i pull out a book from one of my boxes from storage and that's the novel for the day. then i pull my hair over what pic to match it with. thanks, DG.
@daveanajao - thank you, dave. this is a 'blind shot'. the flowers are too near the ground and they are facing down so i had to put my camera, with the flash on, on the grass looking up. i was surprised that there were two bees in one of the flowers. surprise!
@steeler - thank you, howard.
@jannkc - why, thank you, jann! but it's probably just the mirror framing :-)
@bruni - thanks, bruni. they are good books. go for it!