Sons and Lovers

Sons and Lovers – D. H. Lawrence
Series: Standalone
Genre: Classic Literature • Psychological Fiction • Bildungsroman
 
Tropes:
Intense mother–son bond (Oedipal undertones)
Coming-of-age and identity struggle
Love triangle / divided affections
 
Summary:
Sons and Lovers follows Paul Morel, a sensitive young artist growing up in a working-class English family dominated by his strong-willed, emotionally consuming mother, Gertrude. As Paul seeks independence, he becomes torn between his loyalty to her and his desire for a life of his own. Two women—Miriam, spiritual and devoted, and Clara, passionate and worldly—offer very different paths, yet Paul remains unable to fully give himself to either while under the shadow of his mother’s influence.
A powerful exploration of family bonds, emotional dependency, and the struggle for selfhood, D. H. Lawrence’s novel remains a foundational work of psychological realism and early modernist literature.