Lawrence summarised the plot of Sons and Lovers in a letter to Edward Garnett in 1912:

“It follows this idea: a woman of character and refinement goes into the lower class, and has no satisfaction in her own life. She has had a passion for her husband, so her children are born of passion, and have heaps of vitality. But as her sons grow up she selects them as lovers — first the eldest, then the second. These sons are urged into life by their reciprocal love of their mother — urged on and on. But when they come to manhood, they can't love, because their mother is the strongest power in their lives, and holds them...”

The present reader tells the story in his authentic regional English, featuring the East Midlands dialect used by Lawrence in the more intimate exchanges between characters.