Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Modern Library (1926), Edition: Stated First Edition, Hardcover, 356 pages
Description
'She has a style of exquisite beauty; which yet has both force and restraint, simplicity and subtlety; she has fancy and wit, delicious humour and pathos. She sees and knows men aright as no other novelist does. She has, In short, genius' Mr. Edwin Pugh
Media reviews
And yet, having said all that – I loved Precious Bane. Yes, the novel is fatalistic. Yes, there's too much "loam and lovechild" storytelling. Yes, the narrator's choice of expression is sometimes unintentionally hilarious. (Prue's biblical exclamation "The maister have come!" – this being
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uttered whenever Kester, the weaver, appears – had the unfortunate effect of popping into my head whenever my own other half emerged from his study requesting tea, etc.)
Nonetheless, Precious Bane is well worth pursuing. ... 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).
That I liked it more got me thinking, too – for the first time since I've started reading the VMC series – about why Hardy is firmly ensconced in the "canon" and Webb isn't. Is it about gender, or is there something I'm missing? Show Less
User reviews
LibraryThing member lauralkeet
In the early 1800s, not long after the Battle of Waterloo, a young woman named Prue Sarn lived with her mother and brother Gideon on a farm in the Shropshire countryside. Born with a cleft lip, Prue's prospects are limited: her mother believes she is cursed, most of the townspeople think she has
After her father's death, Gideon gets Prue to agree to long-term indentured service on the farm. Gideon is ambitious, and believes that just a few years' hard work will vault them into a new level of society, including a fine house in town. He promises Prue money to treat her lip, and riches for Jancis, a young woman he hopes to marry. Gideon works tirelessly and the farm prospers, but he always wants more. He puts off his marriage, afraid that a wife and children will get in the way of his pursuit of wealth. His singular focus often alienates him from others:
He was ever a strong man, which is almost the same, times, as to say a man with little time for kindness. For if you stop to be kind, you must swerve often from your path. So when folk tell me of this great man and that great man, I think to myself, Who was stinted of joy for his glory? How many old folk and children did his coach wheels go over? (p. 84)
Meanwhile Prue soldiers on, with interminably long hours of hard labor. In her time off she learns to write, keeping a journal which forms the basis of this novel. In describing day-to-day events, she offers keen observations on members of her community:
Sexton's missus was just the opposite. She always made me think of a new-painted coach, big and wide, with an open road, and the horn blowing loud and cheerful, and full speed ahead. She was gay in her dress as a seven-coloured linnet, and if she could wear another shawl or flounce or brooch, she would. ... I used to think myself, seeing her and Sexton together, that she was like a big hank of dyed wool, and he was the thin black distaff it was to be wound off on to. (p. 97)
But Prue, being a normal healthy young woman, longs for long-term companionship. She falls in love with Kester Woodseaves, an itinerant weaver. She worships him from afar, afraid her appearance will scare him off, but one day she saves his life and their relationship begins to change. The rest of the story shows both Gideon and Prue evolving on paths that are true to their characters, with both expected and unexpected consequences.
I liked Prue's character a lot; she was able to summon strength in times of great adversity, and show compassion even to those who had wronged her. Gideon was a greedy jerk, and Kester his complete antithesis. In some ways the story was too predictable, but was improved by some very dramatic segments in which the characters' lives were permanently changed.
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evil powers, and she will almost certainly never marry. Everyone she meets remarks on her condition, unable to see the beautiful person inside.After her father's death, Gideon gets Prue to agree to long-term indentured service on the farm. Gideon is ambitious, and believes that just a few years' hard work will vault them into a new level of society, including a fine house in town. He promises Prue money to treat her lip, and riches for Jancis, a young woman he hopes to marry. Gideon works tirelessly and the farm prospers, but he always wants more. He puts off his marriage, afraid that a wife and children will get in the way of his pursuit of wealth. His singular focus often alienates him from others:
He was ever a strong man, which is almost the same, times, as to say a man with little time for kindness. For if you stop to be kind, you must swerve often from your path. So when folk tell me of this great man and that great man, I think to myself, Who was stinted of joy for his glory? How many old folk and children did his coach wheels go over? (p. 84)
Meanwhile Prue soldiers on, with interminably long hours of hard labor. In her time off she learns to write, keeping a journal which forms the basis of this novel. In describing day-to-day events, she offers keen observations on members of her community:
Sexton's missus was just the opposite. She always made me think of a new-painted coach, big and wide, with an open road, and the horn blowing loud and cheerful, and full speed ahead. She was gay in her dress as a seven-coloured linnet, and if she could wear another shawl or flounce or brooch, she would. ... I used to think myself, seeing her and Sexton together, that she was like a big hank of dyed wool, and he was the thin black distaff it was to be wound off on to. (p. 97)
But Prue, being a normal healthy young woman, longs for long-term companionship. She falls in love with Kester Woodseaves, an itinerant weaver. She worships him from afar, afraid her appearance will scare him off, but one day she saves his life and their relationship begins to change. The rest of the story shows both Gideon and Prue evolving on paths that are true to their characters, with both expected and unexpected consequences.
I liked Prue's character a lot; she was able to summon strength in times of great adversity, and show compassion even to those who had wronged her. Gideon was a greedy jerk, and Kester his complete antithesis. In some ways the story was too predictable, but was improved by some very dramatic segments in which the characters' lives were permanently changed.
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LibraryThing member Luli81
Being the devoted reader of British classics I am, how I've managed to miss this little gem of a book for so long I honestly don't know. But beware, my dear reader, this is not Jane Austen. This is a harsh tale, in the style of Thomas Hardy or even George Eliot, you'll see the characters you so
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 brain. 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 n harmony with the wild natural world; animals, trees and even the wind are her most beloved companions.
Gideon, in contrast with good natured Prue, is as ambitious and severe as he is handsome. He works hard (and slaves Prue to do the same for him) to be wealthy and prosperous and his pride prevents him from marrying the girl he loves, fair Jancis, because he wants to be well-off before he gives himself that pleasure, not caring if others suffer because of his material whims.
But Prue's peace of mind crumbles down when she meets the new weaver, Kester Woodseaves, whom she starts to worship in secret not believing herself worthy of him. It's up to this Prince Charming to perceive the real beauty of Pruedence Sarn and free her from gossip and hateful stares.
"This was the reason for the hating looks, the turnings aside, the whispers. I was a the witch of Sarn. I was the woman cursed of God with a hare-shotten lip. I was the woman who had friended Beguildy, that wicked old man, the devil's oddman, and like holds to like. And now, almost the worst crime of all, I stood alone".
What mainly got me about this novel is Webb's capacity to transmit such a crude story in which guilt, hatred and prejudice get the worst of its characters, as if it was an innocent and sweet fable. And in that sense, the brutality of the morals which are trying to be taught become more evident and disturbing. Also the evident contrast between brother and sister, between evil and goodness: Prue's silent acceptance and her brother's endless thirst to yield power; her ability to be at ease with herself in spite of her faults versus Gideon's incapacity to accept his position in the world; her humble ways, his capricious goals. As if opposed poles inevitably attracted to each other. Yin and yang. Dark and light. Life and death. One can't exist without the other.
"Why, it was only that I was your angel for a day," I said at long last. "A poor daggly angel, too".
What also had me bothered for some time is the subtle way in which Mary Webb implies that no one is naturally evil , what the characters (and ultimately what WE) become is the uncontrollable combination of fate, desire and chance altogether with their skill in taking the right decision at the right moment. This way to view life as a running river whose course we don't have the power to change produced a kind of claustrophobic feeling of impotence, with this constant foreboding, lurking behind my consciousness, that something gruesome was going to happen and that no one would be able to stop it, and I'd sink along with all the characters.
"There are misfortunes that make you spring up and rush to save yourself, but there are others that are too bad for this, for they leave nought to do."
So, imagine my joy, when out of the blue, some shinning and pure light came through and gave me hope and a new understanding, teaching me a valuable lesson: never stop believing in the magic of life, because the moment you stop believing, you will start fading away only to become an invisible spot of dust in this infinite nothingness which some call existence.
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much come to care for struggle in an unfair and prejudiced world, and you'll suffer along with them.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 brain. 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 n harmony with the wild natural world; animals, trees and even the wind are her most beloved companions.
Gideon, in contrast with good natured Prue, is as ambitious and severe as he is handsome. He works hard (and slaves Prue to do the same for him) to be wealthy and prosperous and his pride prevents him from marrying the girl he loves, fair Jancis, because he wants to be well-off before he gives himself that pleasure, not caring if others suffer because of his material whims.
But Prue's peace of mind crumbles down when she meets the new weaver, Kester Woodseaves, whom she starts to worship in secret not believing herself worthy of him. It's up to this Prince Charming to perceive the real beauty of Pruedence Sarn and free her from gossip and hateful stares.
"This was the reason for the hating looks, the turnings aside, the whispers. I was a the witch of Sarn. I was the woman cursed of God with a hare-shotten lip. I was the woman who had friended Beguildy, that wicked old man, the devil's oddman, and like holds to like. And now, almost the worst crime of all, I stood alone".
What mainly got me about this novel is Webb's capacity to transmit such a crude story in which guilt, hatred and prejudice get the worst of its characters, as if it was an innocent and sweet fable. And in that sense, the brutality of the morals which are trying to be taught become more evident and disturbing. Also the evident contrast between brother and sister, between evil and goodness: Prue's silent acceptance and her brother's endless thirst to yield power; her ability to be at ease with herself in spite of her faults versus Gideon's incapacity to accept his position in the world; her humble ways, his capricious goals. As if opposed poles inevitably attracted to each other. Yin and yang. Dark and light. Life and death. One can't exist without the other.
"Why, it was only that I was your angel for a day," I said at long last. "A poor daggly angel, too".
What also had me bothered for some time is the subtle way in which Mary Webb implies that no one is naturally evil , what the characters (and ultimately what WE) become is the uncontrollable combination of fate, desire and chance altogether with their skill in taking the right decision at the right moment. This way to view life as a running river whose course we don't have the power to change produced a kind of claustrophobic feeling of impotence, with this constant foreboding, lurking behind my consciousness, that something gruesome was going to happen and that no one would be able to stop it, and I'd sink along with all the characters.
"There are misfortunes that make you spring up and rush to save yourself, but there are others that are too bad for this, for they leave nought to do."
So, imagine my joy, when out of the blue, some shinning and pure light came through and gave me hope and a new understanding, teaching me a valuable lesson: never stop believing in the magic of life, because the moment you stop believing, you will start fading away only to become an invisible spot of dust in this infinite nothingness which some call existence.
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LibraryThing member sonofcarc
It is a long time since I have read a novel that made as big an impact on me as Precious Bane. The Virago edition describes the author Mary Webb as a "poet, mystic, and lover of nature." Mysticism as a rule is lost on me, but Webb's brand seems to grow directly out of her appreciation for the
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physical world, and sometimes I feel like I understand what she means. As in this description of a favorite spot: "For when the nut-hatch comes into her own tree, she dunna ask who planted it, nor what name it bears among men. For the tree is all to the nut-hatch, and this was all to me." Show Less
LibraryThing member thesmellofbooks
Mary Webb and Precious Bane came at me utterly by surprise. I had never heard of her or of the book until a friend of mine spoke very often, in the week or so that we were going through her books, of her strong and early love for Mary Webb, and particularly for the protagonist in PB, Prue Sarn.
Although published in 1924, the book has an older feel to me. Webb lived in Shropshire and writes of the poor farmers who lived there. She writes in a beautiful dialect, easy to read and yet filled with words that were new to me but whose meaning were clear from the context. I don’t know exactly when this is set but there are no motorcars, no planes, and life is lived according to season and weather and custom.
Prue is born with a harelip. The folk belief is that a hare looked at her mother when she was carrying Prue in her womb, and because of that she has her slight deformity. She is said to be a witch because of it, tho' it is mostly the unkind gossip of a few rather than the grim belief of the many. But even those who love her know that she will never marry because of her harelip. And though she wishes for her own wifely life, she has no great hopes. Not even when she meets the new Weaver.
Prue's father dies early in the story and the farm falls to her brother Gideon. He sets his eye on a grand house in town and the desire to gain that house and go to the Hunt ball with his wife and in every way command the respect of the people around him. So he works himself and his sister, Prue, nearly to death to achieve that aim. But she has agreed to the dream and to the work and although she disapproves or worries at times about her brother, she is fond of him and works as hard as he.
I’ll say no more of the plot, and here I give you very little — just the beginning. I’ll turn back, instead, to the writing.
As she moves through the days of her life Prue gives great attention to the natural world around her, and her pleasure in it is a deep pleasure to this reader. It is as if I have spent weeks in her world, that I know the countryside almost as well as she does, that I have felt the sun and the rain and seen the mist and shared her joy in everything. I have even gotten to look over her shoulder as she writes in her journal in the attic.
The unhurried unfolding of what is in the main a rich and joyful tale, despite whatever tragedy comes along, is a rare and wonderful gift. This hurried world we live in, where the pace of writing is meant to be breakneck much of the time and tense the rest, seldom permits such a gentle character to truly have her voice. But Webb does so with Prue. She is the unforward, uncritical narrator who observes so well and forgives so much, who allows herself her own quiet world and ways, and who never suspects that she is the protagonist of her own tale.
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Eventually I decided to take the book and see for myself.Although published in 1924, the book has an older feel to me. Webb lived in Shropshire and writes of the poor farmers who lived there. She writes in a beautiful dialect, easy to read and yet filled with words that were new to me but whose meaning were clear from the context. I don’t know exactly when this is set but there are no motorcars, no planes, and life is lived according to season and weather and custom.
Prue is born with a harelip. The folk belief is that a hare looked at her mother when she was carrying Prue in her womb, and because of that she has her slight deformity. She is said to be a witch because of it, tho' it is mostly the unkind gossip of a few rather than the grim belief of the many. But even those who love her know that she will never marry because of her harelip. And though she wishes for her own wifely life, she has no great hopes. Not even when she meets the new Weaver.
Prue's father dies early in the story and the farm falls to her brother Gideon. He sets his eye on a grand house in town and the desire to gain that house and go to the Hunt ball with his wife and in every way command the respect of the people around him. So he works himself and his sister, Prue, nearly to death to achieve that aim. But she has agreed to the dream and to the work and although she disapproves or worries at times about her brother, she is fond of him and works as hard as he.
I’ll say no more of the plot, and here I give you very little — just the beginning. I’ll turn back, instead, to the writing.
As she moves through the days of her life Prue gives great attention to the natural world around her, and her pleasure in it is a deep pleasure to this reader. It is as if I have spent weeks in her world, that I know the countryside almost as well as she does, that I have felt the sun and the rain and seen the mist and shared her joy in everything. I have even gotten to look over her shoulder as she writes in her journal in the attic.
The unhurried unfolding of what is in the main a rich and joyful tale, despite whatever tragedy comes along, is a rare and wonderful gift. This hurried world we live in, where the pace of writing is meant to be breakneck much of the time and tense the rest, seldom permits such a gentle character to truly have her voice. But Webb does so with Prue. She is the unforward, uncritical narrator who observes so well and forgives so much, who allows herself her own quiet world and ways, and who never suspects that she is the protagonist of her own tale.
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LibraryThing member janeajones
Precious Bane has a fairytale quality, partly evoked by Webb's descriptions of the Shropshire landscape and the dragonflies in Spring, partly by the dialect, and partly by young narrator/protagonist whose shining goodness does not protect her from the sorrows of the world.
LibraryThing member PollyMoore3
I love this book. I suspect many people avoid it because it was supposedly one of the books satirised in "Cold Comfort Farm" (I like that as well). It has an atmosphere and spell of its own, set in a remote farmhouse by a lake in the woods, peopled with vivid characters. I love the racy Shropshire
I believe the ending tells us that we can't always overcome by ourselves, and need to accept rescue sometimes.
And once and for all, the "precious bane" is not Prue's harelip! That wouldn't make sense. It is a quote from Milton's "Paradise Lost", prefacing the story in some editions: "Let none admire that riches grow in Hell; that soil may best deserve the precious bane". I e, it's Gideon's lust for riches that destroys the people around him.
And Kester Woodseaves is one of the best romantic heroes in fiction!
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dialect they speak in, with its almost Biblical rhythms, (reminding me of my own grandfather's "dunna", "wunna" and "shanna" in another county), and the interweaving of folk tales and beliefs that came naturally to them. It's the story of one man's avarice which leads to many tragedies before the end, and of his sister's struggle for literacy, healing, and love. I believe the ending tells us that we can't always overcome by ourselves, and need to accept rescue sometimes.
And once and for all, the "precious bane" is not Prue's harelip! That wouldn't make sense. It is a quote from Milton's "Paradise Lost", prefacing the story in some editions: "Let none admire that riches grow in Hell; that soil may best deserve the precious bane". I e, it's Gideon's lust for riches that destroys the people around him.
And Kester Woodseaves is one of the best romantic heroes in fiction!
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LibraryThing member herschelian
I bought this to read after seeing the TV adaptation which I much enjoyed. However I found the way Mary Webb wrote dialogue attempting to put the Shropshire dialect and accent on paper really put me off, and I found it a barrier to reading the book, although I know the story has themes and ideas
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which interest me. Somebody told me that it was Mary Webb's writing in 'Precious Bane' that was being satirised in Stella Gibbon's comic masterpiece 'Cold Comfort Farm'. Show Less
LibraryThing member Wanderlust_Lost
Terrific! I approached this book with serious misgivings. For one it was brought by The Book People's Lucky Dip bag who also brought such books as "American Psycho" and "The Blue Afternoon" both of which I hated. But the old adage of never judging a book by its cover is proved true 100 times over
The book is astounding. I have never been happier to be proved wrong. If I wasn't so obsessed with knitting I would've finished this in a single night. I want you all to go out and borrow or buy this book and just read it. Approach it knowing nothing about it and forgetting everything you may have heard and just be blown away.
This book is my NEW FAVOURITE BOOK.
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in this book. It appeared based on the jacket blurb and the title to be one of these modern attempts at historical fiction. The kind of thing you'd expect from Phillipa Gregory. I do enjoy those books on one level, but my taste in historical fiction tends to be a bit deeper than that. The blurb on the back of the book made it sound like this book would, well, suck. I mean it. "Born at the time of Waterloo in the wild country of Shropshire, Prue Sarn is a free spirit cursed with a hare lip - her 'precious bane'. The supserstitious townspeople titter behind their fans, uncertain what to make of her, but Prue takes comfort in her love for the remote countryside of her birth and her passioante - if seemingly hopeless - love for Kester Woodseaves, the weaver. How Woodseaves finally discerns the true beauty of gentle Prudence is set against the tragic drama of her ambitious brother Gideon, a driven man who spurns that harmony with the natural world which his siter has always nurtured." After reading that I braced myself for rubbish. The names alone sounded silly enough to prepare me for extreme distaste. But when I opened the book and read about Mary Webb, the author, and discovered that she, a Shropshire native, wrote the book in 1924 I began to think I might have more on my hands that I expected. After reading the introduction by Stanley Baldwin, former PM, I thought that maybe what I was about to read was more than I gave it credit for.The book is astounding. I have never been happier to be proved wrong. If I wasn't so obsessed with knitting I would've finished this in a single night. I want you all to go out and borrow or buy this book and just read it. Approach it knowing nothing about it and forgetting everything you may have heard and just be blown away.
This book is my NEW FAVOURITE BOOK.
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LibraryThing member jlstanley333
Beautiful, profound, relevant for a world where the desperate race for "the precious bane" is everything and our lives become nothing...we have forgotten what living is. I love this book so much - I have a first edition, paper backs and large size print for when my eyes begin to fail... I read it
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once a year. Show Less
LibraryThing member edella
Born at the time of Waterloo in the wild country of Shropshire, Prudence Sarn is a wild, passionate girl, cursed with a hare lip -- her 'precious bane'. Cursed for it, too, by the superstitious people amongst whom she lives. Prue loves two things: the remote countryside of her birth and,
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hopelessly, Kester Woodseaves, the weaver. The tale of how Woodseaves gradually discerns Prue's true beauty is set against the tragic drama of Prue's brother, Gideon, a driven man who is out of harmony with the natural world. (One of the books satirized in the wonderful Cold Comfort Farm) Show Less
LibraryThing member Redhope
Story about an 19thC working class woman in England who is born with a hare lip. Prue is believed to be cursed (and/or a witch) her family believe that she will never marry. Her brother inherits the family farm after murdering their dying mother. She becomes a slave to her brother and escapes many
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harrowing events, persecution and the accusation of the deaths of mother and brother. I very much enjoyed the gorgeous descriptions of the Shropshire countryside and the local dialect. Show Less
LibraryThing member JBD1
Read this one on the recommendation of a trusted colleague, and was not disappointed. A lovely story of rural Shropshire during the early years of the nineteenth century. Rowland Hilder's illustrations are remarkably effective, too.
LibraryThing member homeschoolmimzi
One of my new favorites among classics. I hadn't heard of this book until my mother read it and recommended it to me. At first I had difficulty with the old language but after awhile it got easier. An inspiring love story, with lush, vivid descriptions of nature, remarkable spiritual insights and
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compelling characterizations. Highly recommend this one. Show Less
LibraryThing member wbwilburn5
Incredibly difficult old English dialect to read but worth persevering. This is a beautiful story.
LibraryThing member mahallett
some parts really good. some parts hard to focus on.
LibraryThing member kslade
Great story set in rural England of Shropshire somewhat like Wuthering Heights with brooding farmers and a kind woman afflicted with a deformity who is seeking love. Nature seems to reflect the feelings of characters. Really good.
LibraryThing member wrichard
It would be easy to send up this tale of high passion amid the cornfields of Shropshire
LibraryThing member burritapal
In beautiful, simple and straightforward language, this book tells the story of characters in a small town in Western England, in the first part of the 19th century. Ignorance runs rampant, with its companion, cruelty, in the small-knit farming community. In the Sarn family, love of money creates
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dishonesty and ruins lives. But, just when all seems lost and at an end for the brave, good-hearted protagonist, good prevails. Heart-warming. Show Less
Language
Original publication date
1924
ISBN
none