You love me so much, you want to put me in your pocket. And there I will die smothered.” Following a passionate whirlwind romance with Walter Morel, an unsophisticated, drinking miner, Gertrude Coppard, a refined and delicately molded woman, becomes Mrs. Morel, only to face the difficulties of living in a rented house with her husband’s meagre salary and no satisfaction in life. As they drift apart, Mrs. Morel’s affections shift to her sons. Dedicating her life, first to William, the oldest and then to Paul, her second son, she is determined that they not follow their father. But what happens as the sons enter manhood and come in contact with women? Will Paul be able to escape his mother’s suffocating grasp? Will Mrs. Morel remain a custodian of her sons’ souls? Drawing upon Lawrence’s provincial upbringing, Sons and Lovers is a gripping portrayal of class, family, childhood, adolescence and sexual relationships. Lawrence’s finest achievement, this semi-autobiographical masterpiece is placed ninth on the Modern Library’s list of 100 best novels of the 20th century.