The Rocking Horse Winner

“The Rocking Horse Winner”, one of Lawrence’s most popular short stories, is a parable about the corrupting effects of love of money. An unspoken anxiety about money permeates the home of a middle-class family whose lifestyle exceeds their income. When the very young son of the household discovers he has the gift of clairvoyance, he begins predicting the winners of the horse races. Before long, he has turned his pocket money into thousands of pounds; yet the family’s misfortunes are fated to continue.

This volume also includes two more of Lawrence’s deeply insightful, atmospheric stories: “Smile”, in which a man journeys to an Italian convent where his wife has died, and experiences an unusual response to her lifeless presence; and “A Sick Collier”, which depicts the travails of a proud, injured Nottinghamshire coal miner and his new wife.