Books with author R. D. Lawrence

"The Rocking-Horse Winner" is a short story by D. H. Lawrence. The story describes a young middle-class Englishwoman who "had no luck." Though outwardly successful, she is haunted by a sense of failure; her husband is a ne'er-do-well and her work as a commercial artist doesn't earn as much as she'd like. The family's lifestyle exceeds its income and unspoken anxiety about money permeates the household. Her children, a son Paul and his two sisters, sense this anxiety; moreover, the kids even claim they can hear the house whispering "There must be more money." Paul tells his Uncle Oscar Cresswell about betting on horse races with Bassett, the gardener. He's been placing bets using his pocket money and has won and saved three hundred twenty pounds. Sometimes he says he is "sure" of a winner for an upcoming race, and the horses he names do in fact win, sometimes at remarkable odds. Uncle Oscar and Bassett both place large bets on the horses Paul names. After further winning, Paul and Oscar arrange to give the mother a gift of five thousand pounds, but the gift only lets her spend more. Disappointed, Paul tries harder than ever to be "lucky". As the Derby approaches, Paul is determined to learn the winner. Concerned about his health, his mother rushes home from a party and discovers his secret. He has been spending hours riding his rocking horse, sometimes all night long, until he "gets there", into a clairvoyant state where he can be sure of the winner's name. Paul remains ill through the day of the Derby. Informed by Cresswell, Bassett has placed Paul's bet on Malabar, at fourteen to one. When he is informed by Bassett that he now has 80,000 pounds, Paul says to his mother: "I never told you, mother, that if I can ride my horse, and get there, then I'm absolutely sure – oh absolutely! Mother, did I ever tell you? I am lucky!" "No, you never did," said his mother. The boy dies in the night and his mother hears her brother say, “My God, Hester, you’re eighty-odd thousand to the good, and a poor devil of a son to the bad. But, poor devil, poor devil, he’s best gone out of a life where he rides his rocking horse to find a winner.”

Kate Smith has spent years controlling her gifts of telepathy and compulsion. It took even longer to be accepted by everyone in her small town due to some mishaps in her youth. Over time, she’d created different personalities that she considered her masks to deal with the world around her. It allowed her to fit in with multiple groups of students and develop friendships. But she allowed no one to see behind the wall she’d perfected not even her family. Kate’s sophomore year of high school isn’t shaping up to be much better than previous years until two new students arrive and challenge her current way of life. Adam and Alyssa have her same abilities, but instead of hiding, they have embraced and utilized their skills. They continue to question and pester until she finally gives in and meets their family. It opens her eyes to a whole new way of life. The three become inseparable and decide to use their gifts to help those in need. After helping the first few victims, they decide to take on bigger challenges. With that, comes more danger. A young girl has disappeared and Kate knows there is much more to the story. They enter a race against time to save the girl and themselves.