The White Peacock – DH Lawrence

The Saxtons and the Beardsalls lived on opposite sides of the Valley of Nethermere in Nottingham- shire. Apart from their home surroundings, they had little in common; but their very differences attracted them to each other, and a mutual friendship sprang up which became steadily stronger and more complex as the families grew up. The relationship between George Saxton and Lettie Beardsall, particularly, developed into a force which governed both their lives. George was a farmer whose fine physique and coarse healthiness made him very attractive to Lettie: while he admired her self-assurance and stronger personality, and grew increasingly to depend on her. But Lettie felt that she wanted something more than animal attraction from a man, and failing to find it in him, she married someone else, and left George to live as well as he could without her. The effect of this almost willful decision on both of them, especially George. forms the main theme of the book. The White Peacock was Lawrence’s first novel and in it he began many themes which he was later to expand and alter. But far from being merely an experiment in writing to be justified by later results, it is a mature and exciting book which succeeds on its own merits.