Introduction by RICHARD ALDINGTON This novel, Lawrence's fifth, was written at the height of bis powers. Mr. Aldington says it is "certainly one of his most original and striking." Lawrence himself is known to have considered WOMEN IN LOVE his best book, and the one which contained the quintessence of his message. It is also the first of bis novels to exhibit bis genius for satire. Since Lawrence was so wonderfully gifted as a storyteller WOMEN IN LOVE can be greatly en-joyed by any reader. Those who are interested in Lawrence, the man, will find an added knowl-edge of him here, since Birkin, one of the four central figures among the two couples of the story, Birkin-Ursula, Gerald-Gudrun, isquiteobviously Lawrence himself and Ursula is his wife, Frieda. "There have been few writers in any era, and certainly none in ours, who have combined as Lawrence did the gifts of the creative heart and the penetration of the critical intellect.' -DIANA TRILLING, in the Introduction to The Portable D. H. Lawrence