Precious Bane (Virago Modern Classics)

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Her theology has a Calvinistic edge. If those around her believe in curses, she believes in a God who makes us his “mommets”, predestined to play out assigned parts. A profound experience of sweetness is avowedly “not religious, like the goodness of a text heard at a preaching”, but bound up in the natural world, part and parcel of “such things as bird-song and daffodowndillies rustling”. Yet later, literate, she connects this visitation with the Song of Solomon and the banner of love. I’m descended from farmers on both sides of my family, and although I’ve never experienced the toil of that life, it always resonates when I read about it. I find the lifestyle incredibly inspiring, making me want to throw down my book, roll up my sleeves, and get to work.

Precious Bane by Mary Webb | Goodreads

In 1921, they bought a second property in London, in the hope that by being in the city, she could achieve greater literary recognition. This, however, did not happen, although she won the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse for Precious Bane in 1926. By 1927, she was suffering increasingly bad health, her marriage was failing, and she returned to Spring Cottage alone. She died at St Leonards-on-Sea, aged 46. She was buried in Shrewsbury, at the General Cemetery in Longden Road. [11] Legacy [ edit ] Autobiographical elements can be seen in the heroine of Precious Bane, Prue Sarn, who is afflicted with a hare-lip and is treated as a social pariah." What is the effect of local superstitions and folklore on the villagers’ trust in, and relationships with, one another? Kester's very set about such things. Never will he say caterpillars. He'll say, 'There's a lot of butter-flies-as-is-to-be on our cabbages, Prue.' He won't say 'It's winter.' He'll say, 'Summer's sleeping.' And there's no bud little enough nor sad-colored enough for Kester not to callen it the beginnings of the blow."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) Her father, George Edward Meredith was an Oxford M.A. and teacher. He became a great influence in her life. She shared his love of literature and of the countryside. The Celtic influence of her parentage was strong. Her father was proud of his Welsh descent.

Book club: Precious Bane , by Mary Webb - The Church Times Book club: Precious Bane , by Mary Webb - The Church Times

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.I fell in love with dear Prue and will definitely revisit this one someday. This is not a happy read, but I found it profound. Prue is a mystic and one of the most gentle souls I have encountered in literature and I am quite smitten! There are a lot of superstitions and odd beliefs to be found in this book but that is also intriguing to me as some of these traditions came over with my ancestors and I recognized some of our family habits in these practices. Kathleen inherited the literary estates of both Mary and Henry. In 1943 she married Jonathan Cape and had another son. She died of an incurable disease, ironically also at age 46." In the end, Webb’s is a story about punishment for all-consuming greed. Jancis Beguildy’s father, the local wizard who provides charms and snake-oil cures and who may be in league with the devil, is known to have held a long grudge against Old Sarn, and he has even less use for the man’s son, Gideon. Idle and amoral, Beguildy is motivated by lust for easy money. He believes he can get a better price for his beautiful daughter, Jancis, than Gideon is likely to give, and he is fully prepared to auction her off to the highest bidder. When Gideon sleeps with the girl to stake his claim to her, however, the young man cements his fate. Beguildy’s curses and revenge will deprive him of all he’s worked for. 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. Literary critic John Sutherland refers to the genre as the "soil and gloom romance" and credits Webb as its pioneer. [16]

Precious Bane by Mary Webb - AbeBooks Precious Bane by Mary Webb - AbeBooks

But not if it's the bane, Gideon? Not if it's the precious bane as I read about in the book of the Vicar lent me? You dunna want that amid the corn, lad, what grows in hell?"Prue works almost as hard as he does, but her focus is on helping others--always first to sacrifice herself for someone in need. She goes particularly far to help the man of her dreams, the man she has fallen for, the weaver Kester Woodseaves. This novel is full of musical prose, but I found the romantic parts particularly tender and beautiful. The only cause for all the misfortune that they could see was the curse of God … They’d reasoned it out slow, as we do in the country, but once they came to the end of the reasoning they were fixed, and it would take a deal to turn them.” Prue Sarn is an unlikely heroine, born with a facial disfiguration which the Fates have dictated will deny her love. But Prue has strength far beyond her handicap, and this woman, suspected of witchcraft by her fellow townspeople, rises above them all through an all-encompassing sweetness of spirit. Precious Bane tells the touching story of the young Prue Sarn, coming of age in the early 1800’s, part of a hard-working farm family in the West Midlands of England. She’s considered afflicted, due to being born with a cleft lip, and told she’ll never have a lover or children. Then a thought came to me all of a sudden. I wonder it didna come afore, but then I'd never much minded having a hare-lip afore. It seems to me that often it's only when you begin to see other folks minding a thing like that for you, that you begin to mind it for yourself.