The Rainbow

D. H. Lawrence, 1915

Modernist novels

The Brangwen family's changing lives bring desire and ambition into conflict with inherited ways.

Read the book Contents

Length: 16 chapters
Reading time: About 13 hr
Words: 185,607

About the book

The Brangwens have worked the same land for generations, with the church tower visible beyond their fields. Yet the opening suggests a longing for something outside the rhythms of farm life, and Tom Brangwen's connection with a Polish woman introduces a different experience of the world.

Lawrence follows a family across generations, placing bodily feeling beside questions of knowledge and independence. Repeated images of land, distance and movement give emotional conflicts a physical setting. The novel asks what people seek from intimate relationships, and what remains beyond another person's understanding.

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Modernist novels

This edition

Text from Standard Ebooks, who proofread and typeset it and dedicate their edition to the public domain. D. H. Lawrence died more than 70 years ago, so the work is out of copyright in the UK. Includes the original dedication.