Two sisters, two men, and the question of what connection is possible between human beings. Lawrence wrote this as a sequel to The Rainbow, and it was rejected by publisher after publisher for its sexual frankness. The prose is dense, incantatory, reaching for states of being beyond ordinary language. Birkin and Ursula struggle toward love; Gerald and Gudrun struggle toward destruction. The snow of the final chapters is fatal and beautiful. Lawrence was dying when he wrote much of his work; the urgency shows. The novel asks whether we can touch each other at all. The answer is uncertain.