Precious Bane (Virago Modern Classics)

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Mary Gladys Webb (25 March 1881 – 8 October 1927) was an English romance novelist and poet of the early 20th century, whose work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people whom she knew. Her novels have been successfully dramatized, most notably the film Gone to Earth in 1950 by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger based on the novel of the same title. The novels are thought to have inspired the famous parody Cold Comfort Farm (1932) by Stella Gibbons. And finally, it is the story of Kester Woodseaves, whose steady love for all created things leads him to resist people's cruelty toward nature and each other, and whose love for Prue Sarn enables him to discern her natural loveliness beneath her blighted appearance. Prudence Sarn is a country girl who lives with her simple mother and her older brother, Gideon, "Maister of the place". Prue is gentle, goodhearted and has a fine figure along with a sharp mind. But she also has a harelip, meaning her whole existence is blighted, as it's impossible that anyone would marry a girl with a curse like that. In spite of her bleak future, she makes light of her woes and from very early on, she develops a special relationship with everything alive, her senses being aligned in harmony with the wild natural world; animals, trees and even the wind are her most beloved companions. She was born Mary Gladys Meredith in 1881 at Leighton Lodge in the Shropshire village of Leighton, where she was baptised at St Mary's parish church, [1] 8 miles (13km) southeast of Shrewsbury. Her father, George Edward Meredith, a private schoolteacher, [2] inspired his daughter with his own love of literature and the local countryside. Her mother Sarah Alice was descended from a family related to Sir Walter Scott. Mary explored the countryside around her childhood home, and developed a sense of detailed observation and description, of both people and places, which later infused her poetry and prose. This is such a beautifully written book that is so underrated and that could be because it is not well known. I had not heard of it before it was chosen as a group read and what a shame if I had never had the opportunity to know Prue and her story. The prose immerses one in the countryside and gives one a feel for the archaic dialect unique to this area. I felt that this gave the novel an authentic touch. Being able to transport a reader to a world unfamiliar is a sure sign of an adept writer. It was so pleasant to hear the songs of the willow wrens and see the fields of sweet barley. Or to watch the dragonflies or “daffodowndillies” fluttering up into the sky. I especially enjoyed learning about the rural customs like the ‘love spinning’ where the ladies gather to spin the wool that will be woven into the fabric for the wedding. Another curious tradition was called ‘sin eating’ when a person takes over the sins of a deceased person.

Despite some success and fluctuating sales of her novels, her health was deteriorating and the Webbs’ marriage was failing. Henry had become infatuated with one of his young pupils, whom he married after Mary’s death. Mary returned to Spring Cottage alone. She died on October 8, 1927, at St Leonard’s-on-Sea, with her old governess Miss Lory at her bedside. She was 46.Her first novel The Golden Arrow was published in 1916, followed by The Spring of Joy: A Little Book of Healing, and four more novels: Gone to Earth, The House in Dormer Forest, Seven for a Secret, and Precious Bane. He had previously written to Mary expressing his admiration for Precious Bane. Mary was delighted to receive his letter and responded enclosing some violets from her garden.

Imagine the English language as a man who had passed through life's many stages, from infancy to adulthood. This novel may then be considered to have been written in English when the language was still a young boy of thirteen. Adding a lot to its quaint charm is the novel's simple, rustic setting, as if saying that when the language was young, so was the world then. In her brief preface, Webb (b. 1881) speaks of listening to the "reminiscence" of Shropshire friends and neighbors as she was growing up, and particularly of the local lore she learned from her father. She also researched this novel seriously, as she indicates. Reading it genuinely transports you into a world and a way of life now essentially vanished. Textured depiction of the folkways and folklore, folk songs and customs of that time and place is a great strength of this book. It's a world that has its pluses and minuses, and you'll feel both of them profoundly. Webb looks unflinchingly at the sexist and classist attitudes of that time, including the double standard for sexual morality, and the ugly fallout these could have; the dangers of superstition, and the gruesome "sport" of bullbaiting. (We should probably include a trigger warning for animal death/cruelty --though, thanks to a brave action, not as much death and cruelty as there might have been.) The plot definitely isn't all sweetness and light; the baser attitudes and motives of some human hearts are on display, and some events are grim indeed. But the author recognizes life's beauty as well as its tragedy, and the positive as well as negative potential of the human spirit. While the story is as dramatic, and tragic, as any of Thomas Hardy’s, our narrator, Prue Sarn, is also our enthusiastic guide to what she imagines must be an alien world. She’s a translator of ancient words and customs for readers living in “new-fangled days”, unfamiliar with love-spinning, sin-eating ( Real Life, 29 January 2010), or the importance of informing bees of a change of master. Today, an even more expansive glossary might be necessary, after the disappearance of catkin, cauliflower, chestnut, and clover from The Oxford Junior Dictionary. Mary Webb is commemorated in various ways in Shropshire, including in 2016 the commissioning and funding of a bronze bust by artist Jemma Pearson in the garden at the front of Shrewsbury library. This is Prue Sarn's love story, though she never expected to have one because of her disfigurement, a hare-shotten lip. She falls in love with the weaver, Kester Woodseaves, as do all women who see him, because he is a fine figure of a man. What none of them see at first is that he has a good heart, and is a kind man; he sees beyond the surface to what lies underneath. It is also the story of her brother, Gideon Sarn, who also has a love story, but lets his love of money and ambition and revenge ruin everything for him.Hammill, Faye Cold Comfort Farm, D. H. Lawrence, and English Literary Culture Between the Wars, Modern Fiction Studies 47.4 (2001) 831-854 I discovered Precious Bane years after Cold Comfort Farm, and writing this feels like a sort of penance, having chosen a reading from the latter at my wedding. I think it is possible to love both. Like Baldwin, I was transported by Webb’s novel, a love story about a young woman with a “hare-shotten lip” who learns to tell the time by watching the reflections in Sarn Mere, a lake so old that she wonders whether it belongs to someone’s dream. “Maybe you never slept in a cot of rushes,” she observes. “But all of us did at Sarn.” What is the effect of local superstitions and folklore on the villagers’ trust in, and relationships with, one another? Mary’s father, George Edward Meredith, was a schoolmaster with strong pride in his Celtic-Welsh heritage, and ignited Mary’s love of literature and the natural world. Her mother, Sarah Alice Scott, was from Edinburgh and descended from a family related to Sir Walter Scott.

Published in 1924, Precious Bane is a novel by Mary Webb (1881 - 1927) which touches on ambition, prejudice and hatred but also on the power of love. Prue Sarn is a farm girl in rural Shropshire during the period of the Napoleonic Wars and is viewed with suspicion by the local community because of having been born with a harelip. Her ambitious and domineering brother betrays her and her superstitious neighbours accuse her of witchcraft. An itinerant weaver Kester Woodseaves, makes his living by weaving for the local people in their homes. Like Prue, he loves the natural world and comes to recognises Prue's inner strength and beauty. ( Noel Badrian)For me, this was what lifted Precious Bane above any Hardy novel I've read. The commentary on life just seemed more rounded, more able to take in joy as well as pain (and able, too, to explore the relationship between the two states).

Today it continues to thrive, with members all over the world. The honorary vice president is Donald Meredith, Mary’s nephew.Adapted in a 2004 play by Helen Edmundson, which was produced by Shared Experience at the Lyric Hammersmith and on tour; Edmundson was subsequently nominated for a TMA Award. [19] Gideon began to rebuild his dream, but Jancis was no longer a part of it. He worked himself and Prue and their mother almost to death. When the mother became too weak to work, Gideon put poison into her tea, for he would feed no one who could not earn her way. Prue knew that her brother’s mind was deranged after the fire, but she had not known that he would kill for money. Her writing is notable for its descriptions of nature, and of the human heart. She had a deep sympathy for all her characters a What be she, after all, but a woman?” In what ways are women’s lives limited in the society of Precious Bane? In what ways does Prue break the mould? Liz said: "I didn’t really discover Mary Webb until a friend loaned me a copy of Precious Bane. That was it – totally hooked and hell-bent on reading everything she wrote, and then the biographies. The stand-out biography is without doubt The Flower of Light by Dr Gladys Mary Coles and a must-read for all Mary Webb devotees.