In The Rainbow (1915) Lawrence challenged the customary limitations of language and convention to carry into the structures of his prose the fascination with boundaries and space that characterize the entire novel. Condemned and suppressed on first publication for its open treatment of sexuality and its "unpatriotic" spirit, the novel chronicles the lives of three generations of the Brangwen family over a period of more than 60 years, setting them against the the emergence of modern England.