Lady Chatterley's Lover - why the scandalous novel was banned and how the sad ending differs from the Netflix show

Netflix's adaptation of Lady Chatterley's Lover, the story of Connie and Oliver's steamy love affair, is one of the most popular films on the streaming platform at the moment.

Fans are obsessed with Lady Chatterley's Lover, the erotic and romantic film that has just been released and stars The Crown's season 4, Emma Corrin who portrayed Princess Diana, and Jack O'Connell who is best known for his work on Skins and Unbroken. While the Netflix film has been met with a lot of praise, there are some key changes that were made when adapting this book for the screen. Here is how the love story between Connie and Oliver ended in the book...

How does the Lady Chatterley's Lover novel end?

In the Netflix film, Oliver and Connie's affair is revealed and the pair are forced to separate after Oliver is sacked. Connie tries to convince him to run away with her, but he refuses and said he has nothing to offer her. Oliver then says that he will find her when the time is right, and leaves.

Connie then leaves her husband after berating him for not giving her 'the slightest drop of affection and kindness'. Rather than raise Oliver's baby with her husband, she leaves him to go to Venice with her sister, Hilda, and their father. 

Connie chops her hair and her bump begins to show as her pregnancy develops. After struggling to fit in with society, Connie makes the decision to return to London, claiming that the place has lost its 'charm'.

While back in England, Connie receives a letter from Oliver. He says he is living in a little village in Scotland, working on a farm for 30 shillings a week with decent lodgings, and asks her to join him. Connie borrows her sister's car and sets off to find him. The film ends with Connie arriving at his house and walking around the property, we then see Oliver walking behind her and then startle her as he wraps his arms around her.

Unfortunately in the book, Connie and Oliver do not have this happy ending. The book ends with Connie receiving the letter from Oliver who tells her that he is still waiting for his divorce to be finalised. Connie is also still unable to get a divorce from her husband and the novel ends with the pair of them just hopeful that they will one day be reunited. 

The Netflix adaptation of this novel perhaps just adds on what might have happened a few months after the book ended. Allowing the readers to have a satisfying ending to this romantic novel. 

Why was Lady Chatterley's Lover banned?

Lady Chatterley's Lover was first published by D.H Lawrence privately in 1928, in Italy, and in 1929, in France. The novel was considered scandalous and was banned for obscenity in the UK, the United States, Canada, Australia, India, and Japan.

An unedited version was published in 1960 after being involved in an obscenity trial because of the sexual content and themes in the book. The trial decided that the book was not guilty of obscenity and a second edition was published in 1961 with a publisher's dedication.

The dedication read, "For having published this book, Penguin Books was prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act, 1959 at the Old Bailey in London from 20 October to 2 November 1960. This edition is therefore dedicated to the twelve jurors, three women and nine men, who returned a verdict of 'not guilty' and thus made D. H. Lawrence's last novel available for the first time to the public in the United Kingdom."

The novel is now considered one of the key books everyone should read at least once in their lives and is a classic piece of literature.