"Kangaroo" is a
novel by D.H. Lawrence, famous for blockbusters "Women in Love" and "Lady Chatterley's Lover."
The story is primarily an accounting and a vehicle for the author's keen and interesting observations about life as a whole, and politics during post World War I years.
The plot is set in Australia, where in 1922, D.H. Lawrence and Frieda, his
wife, had spent four months. The central characters are Richard Lovat Somers, a writer, and his wife, Harriet. Jack Calcott, a neighbour, introduces Somers to Benjamin Cooley (nicknamed "Kangaroo"), a Jewish barrister and leader of a radical
political party. Cooley tries to enlist the support of Somers for his programme, which has much of a fascist ideology but fails in his attempts.
After a political caucus in Canberra Hall has been violently disrupted, the much disappointed Somers couple leave for America.
The novel includes a chapter, "The Nightmare," which vividly details the reactions of Lawrence to World War I.