I am super excited for the new BBC4 adaptation of D H Lawrence’s Women in 
Love/ The Rainbow! It starts on Thursday 24th and is a two-part series which brings together the two novels. The cast looks fantastic, with Rosamund Pike, Rachael Stirling, Rory Kinnear and Joseph Mawle starring, so it should be a real treat for period drama fans! Pike and Stirling play Gudrun and Ursula, two sisters, who are the focus for the novel as it charts their lives and loves and their relationships with each other.
For anyone interested in the contextual backgroud of the novels, there was a really interesting article in the Guardian this weekend: http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/mar/19/rainbow-lawrence-rachel-cusk-rereading The articles focuses on the novels treatment of women and how it subverted traditional Victorian stereotypes of femininity, and how in reading Lawrence we shouldn’t be put off by the connotations of his controversial, ‘highly-sexed’ image. Cusk’s article draws attention to all the reasons why Lawrence’s ‘provocative’ novels should be read by modern-day readers as ”a subversive, transformative, life-altering act”.. I couldn’t agree more!!
So.. high hopes for the series..! Not sure how easy Lawrence is to transfer to the screen as often with his novels it is the elegance and poetry of his narrative rather than the plot which is the most striking, but we shall see..!! Definitely think I should put some Lawrence on me to-read list his year!
