18 h 24 minAudiobook15 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 18 h 24 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if the love that gives you strength also keeps you from living your own life?
In a Nottinghamshire mining village, Gertrude Morel turns from a troubled marriage toward her sons. Her husband, Walter, drinks and quarrels, while she hopes her children will rise above the pit. In Sons and Lovers, D. H. Lawrence brings these divided loyalties close through Paul, a sensitive boy who watches his mother's every mood.
As Paul grows up, painting and factory work open his world, but love brings harder choices. Miriam Leivers shares his books and ideas; Clara Dawes draws him toward a different passion. With his mother's hold still strong, Paul struggles to discover what he wants—and whether he can give himself freely to anyone.
What you’ll discover
- Love that becomes ownership Explore the uneasy boundary between a mother's generous devotion and her need to hold on.
- A household divided Meet a family where pride, drink, disappointment, and ambition shape the smallest daily exchanges.
- Two paths toward intimacy Follow Paul's bonds with Miriam and Clara as spiritual longing meets physical desire.
- Life beside the pits Enter a working world of wages, bargaining, and dust that clings to a miner's clothes.
- The struggle for selfhood Stay close to a gifted young man trying to separate his wishes from his mother's hopes.
Who will love it
For readers who love close, honest portraits of family life, and anyone curious about class, work and love in industrial England.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A marriage begins in warmth and breaks
- A mother pours her hopes into her sons
- Paul grows up between two worlds
- Miriam and the farm offer a different life
- Love that cannot settle into peace
- Clara brings a new and harsher passion
- What the book says about possessive love
- Class, work and the pull of the body
- How Lawrence tells the story and why it feels so close
Who’s who
- Paul MorelThe gifted, sensitive second son who paints, works in a Nottingham factory, and struggles to love freely while his mother's hold on him stays strong.
- Gertrude MorelA proud, educated woman disappointed in marriage, who pours her ambition and love into her sons and wants them to rise above the pit.
- Walter MorelA warm, rough coal miner who drinks and quarrels, and who is slowly shut out of his own family.
- William MorelThe eldest son, handsome and ambitious, who takes a clerk's post in London and carries his mother's first hopes.
- Miriam LeiversA shy, religious farm girl who shares books and ideas with Paul and loves him with deep seriousness.
- Clara DawesA proud, handsome woman involved in the women's movement, separated from her husband, who begins a passionate affair with Paul.
- Baxter DawesClara's sullen, embittered husband, a man of anger and drink who comes to resent Paul.
- Annie MorelThe Morels' only daughter, lively and loyal, who sides with her mother in the troubled household.
Formats and delivery
- eBook
- On your phone, tablet, computer or Kindle, with the type as large as you like.
- Large-print eBook
- The same book in bigger, clearer type, from the first page.
- Audiobook
- 18 h 24 min, complete, read by Lucas Linden.
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas in about 15 minutes, to read or to hear.
- Paperback
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Hardcover
- 6 × 9 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print paperback
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
- Large print hardcover
- 8.5 × 11 in. Printing soon: leave your email under Paperback or Hardcover above.
eBooks and audiobooks open right away. Download EPUB or PDF, or send the book to your Kindle. Every printed copy is made when you order it and shipped worldwide; shipping is shown at checkout.
How it works
- Start free. Nothing to pay today; the eBook of this book is yours to keep.
- Read, listen and print. 200,000+ classics as eBook, large-print eBook, audiobook and 15-minute summary, and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print, 5 accounts for the price of one.
- We remind you first. Free for 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment. Then 0,14 USD a day in your first year on the yearly plan and 0,27 USD a day after, or 0,66 USD a day on the monthly plan. Cancel online in two clicks.
Bought on its own? Every eBook, audiobook and printed book you buy without the plan carries our 30-day money-back guarantee.
25 languages, side by side
Read and hear Hijos y amantes in 25 languages and switch at any time. Or read two side by side, paragraph by paragraph: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Hijos y amantes
by D. H. Lawrence · 1913
Paul Morel tries to love two very different women while his mother's claim on him stays strong.
Challenging10–20 hours to read25 languages
Excellent
- Read or listen
- 25 languages, side by side
- Print and large print at cost
- 5 accounts for the price of one
Free for 3 months · starts right away, on any device
Read free3 months free · cancel anytimeFree for 3 months, then 0,14 USD a dayCancel anytimeHow it works
In short
Sons and Lovers is a novel by D. H. Lawrence, published in 1913. It follows a family in a Nottinghamshire coal mining village, from a marriage in the nineteenth century into the early years of the twentieth.
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A marriage begins in warmth and breaks
The story opens in a mining district called the Bottoms, a row of poor houses in the Nottinghamshire coalfield. Gertrude Coppard comes from a respectable, chapel-going family with some education behind it. She is a serious, quick-minded woman who once taught school. At a Christmas party she meets Walter Morel, a miner, warm and laughing, who dances and sings and lives wholly in his body.
She is drawn to that glow, so different from the stiff piety she grew up in. They marry quickly, and for a few months they are happy. Then the facts of the match appear one by one. Walter has debts he never mentioned, and he is not the man of settled habits she imagined.
Free for 3 months · Cancel anytime
Free gifts
580 USD in free gifts when you start
Every book in every format and in 25 languages, 5 accounts for the price of one. Nothing to pay today.
- 200,000+ classic eBooksIn 25 languages, side by side
170 USDFREE - Every audiobookIn 25 languages, any device
120 USDFREE - 15-minute summariesRead or listen, in 25 languages
60 USDFREE - Print at cost, no markupPaperback, hardcover, large print
60 USDFREE - 5 accounts for the price of oneA shelf for everyone at home
170 USDFREE - A part in rebuilding the libraryNew languages and books for all
FREE
Questions about Hijos y amantes
Can I read it free?
Yes. The first key idea of the 15-minute summary is free with no sign-up. Start free and the whole book is yours for 3 months, with the eBook to keep, plus 200,000+ more classics and any book printed at cost as a paperback, hardcover or large print. Nothing to pay today: we email you 7 days before your first payment, and you can cancel online in two clicks.
Can I buy the printed book?
Soon. The paperback, hardcover and large print editions are being prepared. Choose Paperback or Hardcover above, leave your email, and we tell you the day you can order it, printed at cost.
How many accounts do I get?
Five, for the price of one: you and 4 more people, each with their own login, shelf and their own place in every book.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel online in two clicks at any time and nothing more is charged. Nothing is charged in your first 3 months, and we email you 7 days before your first payment.
What is Sons and Lovers about?
It follows the Morel family in a Nottinghamshire mining village, focusing on Paul Morel, whose close bond with his mother shapes his love affairs with two very different women. It is about family, class, desire and growing up.
Is Sons and Lovers a true story?
It is a novel, but it draws heavily on Lawrence's own youth in Eastwood, his miner father, his mother and his early romance. Published in 1913, it is often called autobiographical fiction.
What does the title Sons and Lovers mean?
It points to the two roles Paul and his brother must play. They are their mother's sons and they are also lovers of other women, and the book shows how hard it is to be both.
The author
D. H. Lawrence
1885–1930 · English novelist and poet
D. H. Lawrence was an English novelist and poet, among the most controversial and influential writers of the early twentieth century. Lady Chatterley's Lover, long banned for its frankness, became a landmark in the fight against literary censorship.
More by D. H. Lawrence
All 8 booksMore like this
Our mission
The library burned once. We are building it back.
Every great book, in every language and every format, for every family. Every plan helps pay for new languages, new audiobooks and books for readers who have never had them. Join the movement.
Read our story- Every language25 languages today, side by side, and more every year
- No wastePrinted on demand: no warehouses, no unsold stock, no pulped copies
- For everyonePaperback, hardcover and large print at the cost of printing
