Set against the backdrop of England’s industrial revolution, D. H. Lawrence’s The Rainbow examines shifting social roles in pre-First World War England. Three generations of Brangwen women, Anna, Ursula, and Gudrun, each deal with their own challenges: forbidden sexual desire, unfulfilling marriages and the impossibility of physical love. Despite their station in life, the Brangwen women are able to emerge beyond the conventions of their time and place, challenging English society and emerging with strong convictions of both their selves and their desires.

The Rainbow was banned upon publication in 1915, and all copies were subsequently seized and burnt. Upon republication the novel achieved commercial success, shocking readers with its frank discussion of sexuality and women’s physical desire. The Rainbow is the first of two Brangwen family novels, whose story is concluded in Women in Love. The Rainbow has been adapted for film and television.

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