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Precious Bane Mary Webb 9780268015381 Books

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Precious Bane Mary Webb 9780268015381 Books

This was the book that gave my mother the idea for a name for me. Jancis features in the story as a significant character but not the central one. It is narrated by Prue Sarn who was born with a hair lip and believed to be bewitched. She believed that she carried a curse of some kind but didn't let that interfere with her life. She is always hard-working and unfailingly kind. She cares for her elderly mother and assists her brother Gideon with all the farm work. She ploughs, tends the pigs, hens and garden as well as cooking, cleaning etc. Jancis is the daughter of the neighbour "wizard" who cures people with his chants and potions. But Jancis is very beautiful and desired by many and engaged to marry Gideon when Gideon has become rich – his single-minded ambition. As the day of their wedding approaches, Jancis' father who opposes the marriage, is absent and there is an opportunity for the two of them to sleep together. Father Beguildy arrives back early and discovers them. In his fury he sets fire to Gideon's crops – totally destroying his chances of becoming waelthy. This episode turns Gideon against Beguildy and Jancis and wants nothing more to do with them. Tragedy! But Prue has had a story of her own. She has always believed that her "hair-shotten-lip" will mean that no man will ever want her and is resigned to live a single life. However, she meets Kester the Weaver and knows that he is the "maister" for her. Set in the years following the Battle of Waterloo, it is written in the style of 19th Century shropshire country folk and uses many words and expressions I had to guess at the meaning. It is full of the superstitions and folk-lore that might have been around at a much earlier time. Mary Webb was born 1881 – 1927 and Precious Bane was published in 1924. I had read several of Mary Webb's novels before and always found them engaging and compelling. Similar in atmosphere to Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbevilles" it captures a great feeling of the remoteness of the countryside and the isolation that the characters live with. Webb is a real story teller. An easy read (as long as you can make your way through the dialect).


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Precious Bane Mary Webb 9780268015381 Books Reviews

This book arrived in perfect shape, but it's comically large. Sized more like a text book than a novel. Not a huge deal, but I was just surprised.
Unusual story set over a century ago in small English town. Customs, limitations and characters beautifully drawn. Some words of the time understandable in context.
Mary Webb is a wonderful romantic author, early twentieth century British. She died relatively young and poor, but what a great writer she was, a real loss. This novel was her most important, and presents a picture of a lost world, a last glimpse of British country life on the cusp of its destruction by modernity. Webb clearly had a fantastic, almost mystical connection with nature which is no longer possible, and which illuminates this tragic story, told in the style of much more famous British authors of the nineteenth century like George Eliot or Thomas Hardy. A great author, a great story, and a great connection to a world gone by.
I have bought this book many times for bright older readers - since the day I first read it. I haven't seen it in some years so I cannot respond to question about narrator. I'm an older grandmother who read virtually everything all the time from earliest years. Precious Bane, recommended by a librarian, was the first romantic novel I read that had young people (as opposed to, say, Jane Eyre as an adult, where the romance is so palpable. I recommend this beautifully written book (not great; that must be reserved for great), as a charming book for 13 years up with a liking for a vocabulary that includes some now obsolete words. Possibly, "bane" is an example. So it is not for every young person, but those to whom I discerningly gave this book dearly loved it. They were not part of the generation too soon sexually aware. Note how many editions have been printed and you can surmise that it is just right for certain young girls on the cusp. I seem to recall Lorna Doone was such a book. And, to cite one not great, that I re-read also many times - a book by Eleanor Lambert. Do look it up. I think it was called, Thee Jonathan. It could be of interest for readerss to know I was trained first with a specialty in Children's Literature. The categories that go from good to great do not satisfy this writer. Many books are not great, that are yet, beautifully written. I try not to buy or give books that are merely 'good'. A book is a journey you remember lifelong. Choose wisely. Yes, I do recommend Precious Bane. But, I've written that already, haven't I?
This book is simply a treasure. In some ways, it is dark (as there are foul deeds afoot). But in other ways, the beauty of Nature, of Good (in its classic sense), of a pure heart illumine this novel with an ethereal glow. The Shropshire dialect in which it is written presents a bit of a challenge, but once the reader has grown accustomed, the story unwinds without hesitation and is really quite riveting.

I discovered Precious Bane while reading Harry Cauley's novel, The Botticelli Angel, which I also loved. In that book, the characters are reading as they travel, and frequent mentions are made of the characters and situations in Precious Bane. I enjoyed both novels and loved how one introduced the other (though they are nothing alike).
This was the book that gave my mother the idea for a name for me. Jancis features in the story as a significant character but not the central one. It is narrated by Prue Sarn who was born with a hair lip and believed to be bewitched. She believed that she carried a curse of some kind but didn't let that interfere with her life. She is always hard-working and unfailingly kind. She cares for her elderly mother and assists her brother Gideon with all the farm work. She ploughs, tends the pigs, hens and garden as well as cooking, cleaning etc. Jancis is the daughter of the neighbour "wizard" who cures people with his chants and potions. But Jancis is very beautiful and desired by many and engaged to marry Gideon when Gideon has become rich – his single-minded ambition. As the day of their wedding approaches, Jancis' father who opposes the marriage, is absent and there is an opportunity for the two of them to sleep together. Father Beguildy arrives back early and discovers them. In his fury he sets fire to Gideon's crops – totally destroying his chances of becoming waelthy. This episode turns Gideon against Beguildy and Jancis and wants nothing more to do with them. Tragedy! But Prue has had a story of her own. She has always believed that her "hair-shotten-lip" will mean that no man will ever want her and is resigned to live a single life. However, she meets Kester the Weaver and knows that he is the "maister" for her. Set in the years following the Battle of Waterloo, it is written in the style of 19th Century shropshire country folk and uses many words and expressions I had to guess at the meaning. It is full of the superstitions and folk-lore that might have been around at a much earlier time. Mary Webb was born 1881 – 1927 and Precious Bane was published in 1924. I had read several of Mary Webb's novels before and always found them engaging and compelling. Similar in atmosphere to Hardy's "Tess of the D'Urbevilles" it captures a great feeling of the remoteness of the countryside and the isolation that the characters live with. Webb is a real story teller. An easy read (as long as you can make your way through the dialect).