Sons and loversWith great sensitivity and perception, Lawrence draws on his own experience and explores the close emotional ties that were to dominate so much of his life. The Morel family, the counterpart of his own, live on the Nottingham coalfield. Mrs Morel is disillusioned with her husband, a coarse grained and hard drinking miner, and centres all her expectations on her sons, especially Paul. As Paul Morel grows older, tensions develop in this relationship.