Lawrence The Virgin and The Gipsy by D.H. David Herbert

The Virgin and the Gipsy'', written as a brief fiction titled by English novelist D.H. Lawrence, was posthumously released in 1930. Due to the spelling of "Gipsy" in the original and early editions, the title The Virgin and the Gypsy that is used today can be confusing. The novel includes Two sisters, daughters of an Anglican vicar, who return from finishing school overseas to a drab, lifeless East Midlands rectory. Their mother has run off with another man and their father is deeply humiliated. Yvette sees her father as a mean-spirited and cowardly person for the first time. The book's conclusion has a shocking turn of events. A huge flood surges through the vale, coming from a burst dam at a nearby reservoir. In the nick of time, the brave gipsy man rescues Yvette despite the fact that the flood washes most of the rectory away. The gipsy man represents male sexuality as well as individual freedom. Lawrence saw himself as a liberator for people who needed to experience life without fear or shame. Yvette is like the reincarnation of her mother's rebellious nature as she yearns for freedom.