The Virgin and the Gipsy

Her father, the minister, taught her about God, but it was the gypsy who taught her about love.

Set in a small village in the English countryside, this is the story of a secluded, sensitive rector's daughter who yearns for meaning beyond the life to which she seems doomed. When she meets a handsome young gipsy whose life appears different from hers in every way, she is immediately smitten and yet still paralyzed by her own fear and social convention. Not until a natural catastrophe suddenly, miraculously sweeps away the world as she knew it does a new world of passion open for her.

Recognized as a masterpiece in which D. H. Lawrence had distilled and purified his ideas about sexuality and morality, The Virgin and the Gipsy has become a classic and is one of Lawrence's most electrifying short novels - a dazzling, first rate novel that will enchant all lovers of the story-telling art, by the author of Lady Chatterley's Lover. With its verbal precision, its remarkable insight into complex personal relationships, and with vivid awareness of the physical world, this short novel provides an excellent introduction to D. H. Lawrence's fiction. Lawrence's spirit is infused by all his tenderness, passion, and knowledge of the human soul.

The book was written during the last months of 1925 after the Lawrences had returned from Europe from the Taos ranch for the last time.