A Collier's Friday Night

By D H Lawrence

Rain presses against the night while an entire family's strain gathers in a working man's kitchen. Over the course of one Friday evening, ordinary domestic routines expose the pressures beneath the Lambert household: a troubled marriage, clashes between parents and children, restricted finances and the demands of mining labour. The close quarters leave little room for grievances to remain hidden, yet moments of tenderness and social comedy complicate every quarrel. Ernest Lambert, a twenty-one-year-old college student and aspiring poet, stands between the world that formed him and the education enlarging his ambitions. His place within a mining family sharpens the drama's central contrast between physical labour and literary aspiration, while his emotionally charged relationship with Maggie Pearson introduces both romantic and intellectual tension. Colloquial regional speech gives each exchange an immediate social texture, allowing affection, resentment and flirtation to emerge through conversation rather than explanation. Closely observed household activity anchors this three-act play in the material realities of working-class family life. Detailed stage directions attend to the rhythms of eating, washing, baking, studying and reckoning wages, making domestic work inseparable from the conflicts unfolding around it. Grim realism sits beside warmth and humour, while the single-evening structure concentrates questions of class, education and aspiration into an intimate social drama. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9377784859
• ISBN13: 9789377784850
• Release Date: December 2026
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 62 Pages
• Weight: 0.21 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"