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** spoiler alert ** A collection with some spectacular stories and some that fall flat. The themes in this collection are his most interesting - the power of the unconscious mind. Many of these (and they are usually the best ones) explore this theme in different ways. These stories are similar in theme to the book of three novellas published later.

The opener, 'England, My England' is a masterpiece. The story is based on people Lawrence once stayed with. It moves in scope from individual to family to society. The parasitic failed artist Egbert has a lifeless marriage. An accident happens to one of his daughters that he is to blame for, and he joins the army. The final scene is dazzling. Egbert in the midst of a battle is only able to focus on gorse and holly and pays for it.

"Mechanism, the pure mechanical action of obedience at the guns. Pure mechanical action at the guns. It left the soul unburdened, brooding in dark nakedness. In the end, the soul is alone, brooding on the face of the uncreated flux, as a bird on a dark sea."

'Tickets, Please' retells an incident that happened to Lawrence when he was young, and seemly scarred him. Basically, a bunch of girls beat the shit out of him. It has some nice descriptions of Nottinghamshire.

Another great story is 'The Blind Man', where a war veteran has gone blind and lives like a mole. His wife (who seems to be based on Catherine Carswell) brings a rival over and Maurice defeats his rival in a strange way.

'Monkey Nuts' and 'Wintry Peacock' are lesser affairs. The former I cannot remember much except I wrote down it seemed like a Charlie and Frank situation (from Always Sunny). The latter story earned Lawrence a fair sum when he sold it. I didn't like it but I did like the actual peacocks in the story.

'You Touched Me' (or 'Hadrian' as it is also known) is a story I didn't like when I read it but thinking back now appreciate it. It explores the compulsive pull between people even without their consent (will). It's quite creepy and Oedipal.

The next two were, again, lesser stories. 'Samson and Delilah' is about a man who returns home to his (justifyable upset) wife after fifteen years absence. Despite her anger she still comes back to him. 'The Primrose Path' is a quite terrible story where an uncle gone downunder blethers to his nephew.

Another excellent story is 'The Horse-Dealer's Daughter', concerned with similar forces to others in this collection, but unlike 'You Touched Me', more of a happy ending. The family of the "Horse-Dealer" are suffering from poverty and move to another town, except the daughter, who refuses to tell her family (that mistreat her) what she will do. A young doctor sees her and against his will becomes drawn to her. The horses march tied head to tail and the daughter matches to her mother's grave, then into a pond. The doctor nearly drowns trying to save her, and dries her off alone in her home. She compulses him to say he loves her. And he does, but this love is not what we might call love, it's this unconscious, compulsive force that binds them together.

The last tale, 'Fanny and Annie' (or 'The Last Straw ') is another lesser one. However some people disagree. The opening section (flame-lurid) is quite good. Here, a pompous, posh woman forces herself into a marriage she doesn't want.

Despite some lesser stories I thought this collection was excellent. The two best are the title story, and 'The Horse-Dealer's Daughter'.