''The Ladybird'' is a long tale or

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

D. H. Lawrence David Herbert Lawrence (11 September 1885 – 2 March 1930) was an English writer, novelist, poet and essayist. His works reflect on modernity, industrialization, sexuality, emotional health, vitality, spontaneity and instinct. His best-k ...

. It was first drafted in 1915 as a short story entitled ''The Thimble''. Lawrence rewrote and extended it under a new title in December 1921 and sent the final version to his English agent on 9 January 1922. It was collected with two other tales, ''

The Captain's Doll ''The Captain's Doll'' is a short story or novella by the English author D. H. Lawrence. It was written in 1921 and first published by Martin Secker in March 1923 in a volume with ''The Ladybird'' and '' The Fox''. It was the basis of the 1983 T ...

'' and '' The Fox'', and the three novellas were then published in London by

Martin Secker Martin Secker (6 April 1882 – 6 April 1978), born Percy Martin Secker Klingender, was a London publisher who was responsible for producing the work of a distinguished group of literary authors, including D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann, Norman Dougl ...

in March 1923 under the title ''The Ladybird'' and in New York by Thomas Seltzer as ''The Captain's Doll'' in April 1923.

Plot introduction

A wounded German officer, Count Psanek, shares his philosophies on life and love with a local acquaintance, Lady Daphne, while interned in London during the final months of the First World War. Lady Daphne finds herself alternately attracted and repulsed by the Count, and when her husband returns home from the front she finds her feelings toward him are equally ambiguous. For Lawrence, love is never a simple exchange, but something both independently personal and wholly dependent.

Standard edition

* ''The Ladybird, The Fox, The Captain's Doll'' (1923), edited by Dieter Mehl, Cambridge University Press, 1992,

References

Short stories by D. H. Lawrence 1923 short stories Martin Secker books {{1920s-story-stub