This edition incorporates an original introduction from Moorside Press, including a biography, a critical discussion of Lawrence's place in the history of British Literature and a short contextual discussion of the book.
The plot of The Lost Girl, Lawrence’s fifth novel published in 1920, is built on irony. Alvina Houghton, heiress to a drapery in the midst of Midlands coal country, comes of age just as her father’s business is failing. Seeking to secure her future, he buys a theatre, but succeeds only in having one of the travelling performers, a suave Italian called Ciccio, capture his daughter’s heart. Together they travel to Southern Italy where Alvina finds a sense of freedom and sexual liberty.
There’s a touch of Dickens about the novel, certainly in the sense of irony within the plot and the way decisions taken with the best intentions can lead to the worst outcome. For Lawrence of course, such a plot line enables him to explore outside the normal social boundaries and where the father might think his daughter was lost, Lawrence and the daughter would consider her found.