The spellbinding story of Lady Chatterley's Lover, and the society that put it on trial: the story of a novel and its ripple effects across half a century, and about the transformative and triumphant power of fiction itself

The spellbinding story of Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and the society that put it on trial; the story of a novel and its ripple effects across half a century, and about the transformative and triumphant power of fiction itself.

‘A hugely daring, intrigue-packed, decade-jumping doorstopper that teasingly blends fiction and actuality with wit and panache’ DAILY MAIL

‘A triumph ... it will conquer your heart' ELIF SHAFAK

'Glorious and arresting ... A widescreen novel' OBSERVER

'A passionate, epic joy' MADELINE MILLER

'Powerful, moving, brilliant ... An utterly captivating read' ELIZABETH GILBERT
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D. H. Lawrence is dying. Exiled in the Mediterranean, he dreams of the past. There are the years early in his marriage during the war, where his desperation drives him to commit a terrible betrayal. And there is a woman in an Italian courtyard, her chestnut hair red with summer.

Jacqueline and her husband have already been marked out for greatness. Passing through New York, she slips into a hearing where a book, not a man, is brought to trial.

A young woman and a young man meet amid the restricted section of a famous library, and make love.

Scattered and blown by the winds of history, their stories are bound together, and brought before the jury. On both sides of the Atlantic, society is asking, and continues to ask: is it obscenity – or is it tenderness?

'Gorgeously written and meticulously conceived' DAVID LEAVITT

"Alison MacLeod has conjured a hugely daring, intrigue-packed, decade-jumping doorstopper that teasingly blends fiction and actuality with wit and panache" - DAILY MAIL

"Weaving together fact and fiction with impressive skill, MacLeod marshals a number of very different but interlinked narratives" - THE TIMES, Best paperbacks of 2022

"It’s an ambitious sprawl of a book, splendidly extreme in its magnitude, yet always elegant; a defence of complicated thinking and embodied life" - GUARDIAN

"A propulsive, addictive, joyous read" - GUARDIAN

"Weaving together fact and fiction with impressive skill ... Tenderness is a significant achievement, as life-affirming as Lawrence’s own fiction always aimed to be" - SUNDAY TIMES, Historical Fiction Book of the Month

"Gripping new novel... shows a mastery of her craft… a thrilling read" - HARPER'S BAZAAR

"Glorious and arresting ... A widescreen novel" - OBSERVER

"A work of huge imagination" - THE TIMES

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A compelling read … keen and elegant prose

"With a powerful mixing of the personal and the political, of fact and fiction, Alison MacLeod’s latest novel is a sweeping and immersive literary treat" - LIVING MAGAZINE

"She has produced a meticulously researched account ... This is a vol-au-vent … and it will change forever the way we read Lady Chatterley " - SPECTATOR, Books of the Year

"Magnificent … MacLeod covers an astonishingly broad range of incidents, eras, and themes in vivid prose, and depicts Lawrence’s supporters and opponents with equal insight and empathy … Triumphant … This places MacLeod among the best of contemporary novelists" - PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

"Sprawling and ambitious ... Completely engrossing" - GOOD READING MAGAZINE

"Fans of Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife will love the epic Tenderness" - VOGUE AUSTRALIA

"Tenderness is daring and innovative … MacLeod’s Tenderness has many tendrils, but throughout is a constant incantation about the power of fiction. The structure is unexpected and the story is epic and bold, and to quote from the book, it is also big-spirited and alive" - ABC NEWS, Best New Books to Read in September

"An exploration of society’s reaction to the infamous Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and the transformative and triumphant power of fiction itself" - BETTER READING

"A joyous celebration of the artistic life by a writer who takes courageous flight" - TABLET