Chapter 1 Summary

D.H. Lawrence wrote the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover in 1920. Because of the controversy surrounding its publication, the book underwent several printings and was finally privately published in Florence in 1928. It was Lawrence's final novel. It tells the story of Clifford and Connie Chatterley and their sterile marriage, which ultimately leads her to have an affair with their gamekeeper, Mellors.

The novel is set in England in1920, at the end of the First World War. The country has been ravaged, and morale is low. Constance Chatterley married Clifford three years earlier while he was home for a month on leave. Prior to her marriage, Constance lived an aesthetic and unconventional life, traveling with her parents and sister throughout Europe. She was accustomed to living among students and debating with the intellectual young men of the time. She enjoyed her youth as a free...