This is a selection of D H Lawrence’s short stories, mostly about women. Although much wider known for his novels and in particular for his forthright attitude to sex, and its description, in literature, it is for his short stories that Lawrence has most commonly gained critical acclaim.

Set, as was Lawrence’s habit, within sight of the ‘great blue heap of Nottingham’ Love Among the Haystacks introduces us to the character of the wild and disobedient German governess mostly referred to as ‘the Fräulein’, whose passion and rarity drive two brothers to distraction with somewhat disastrous consequences.

Mother and Daughter is portrayal of that most difficult of roles, the mother-in-law, and The Rocking Horse WinnerThe Odour of Crysanthemums explores the other side of the equation with a son’s desperate attempts to help his overly acquisitive mother creating a sharply painful, almost parable-like tale. is one of Lawrence’s most famous short stories. It marked the beginning of his literary career when it was published in 1909 in the hugely influential magazine The Literary Review.

This unabridged audio book tells the story of Lady Chatterley and her love for her husband’s gamekeeper and when first published, it outraged the sensibilities of Edwardian England.

D.H. Lawrence had already been dismissed as a purveyor of the obscene for the attitudes to sex that he had shown in 'The Rainbow' which had been fiercely suppressed on its publication in 1915. Chatterley was a deliberate choice on D H Lawrence’s part to address sex head on, describe the act and its pleasures in detail and put forward his belief that mankind had lost touch with its pagan and natural root, its link to the earth and therefore its strength. Lawrentian sex although tender and loving is feral and robust. He despised what he called “the miserable sodding rutters, the flaming sods, the sniveling, dribbling, dithering, palsied, pulse-less lot that make up England today”.

Samantha Bond reads Lady Chatterley's Lover audiobook, in her truely engrossing style.