Alvina Houghton grows up longing for a life beyond the narrow streets and rigid expectations of her English provincial town. Drifting through unsatisfying work and hollow romances, she seizes an unexpected chance for escape when she meets Ciccio, a traveling Italian performer. But the freedom she imagines soon gives way to a harsher reality, as life in a remote Italian village demands new compromises and leaves her more isolated than ever.
First published in 1920, The Lost Girl was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and marked an important moment in D. H. Lawrence’s career. Written after the upheavals of the First World War, it was his first major novel to gain critical recognition in Britain. The novel stands at a turning point in Lawrence’s work, bridging his early explorations of individual rebellion with the more radical themes he would pursue in later novels such as Women in Love [1920] and Lady Chatterley’s Lover [1929].

D. H. LAWRENCE [1885-1930] was one of the greatest English writers of the 20th century. Lawrence's depictions of erotica and sexuality led to several of his novels being banned and censored. He lived in self-imposed exile for four years due to the reception of his novels.