Precious Bane

By: Mary Webb

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

A haunting tale of passion set in Shropshire in the 1800s.

Born at the time of Waterloo in the wild countryside of Shropshire, England, Prudence Sarn is a passionate girl, cursed with a harelip - her “precious bane”. She is cursed for it, too, by the superstitious people among whom she lives. Prue loves two things: the remote countryside of her birthplace and, hopelessly, Kester Woodseaves, the weaver. The tale of how Kester gradually discerns Prue’s true beauty is set against the tragic drama of Prue’s brother, Gideon, a man who is out of harmony with the natural world and whose recklessness may ensnare them all in tragedy.

Winner of the 1926 Prix Femina Vie Heureuse Prize, which was similarly awarded to such books as Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse, E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India, and Stella Gibbons’ Cold Comfort Farm, Precious Bane is a novel that haunts us with its beauty and its timeless truths about our deepest hopes.

Public Domain (P)2020 Blackstone Publishing

I love this story

If you like Victorian style romance, this is the story for you. Similar to Tomas Hardy

A classic (gothic?) romance; audiobook very helpful!

I loved this award-winning book, although, as an early 20th-century classic set in the early 19th century, it is very different from my usual fare. Prue Sarn, the narrator, is afflicted with a hare lip and beset with an array of family members and neighbors who range from supportive to abusive, even as a good man unexpectedly develops an interest in her. The novel is set in Shropshire (adjacent to Wales), and the semi-archaic dialect makes the outstanding Audible narration a perfect companion to the text, which I used but may not be necessary. Dramatic, engaging, ultimately uplifting, and highly recommended if you aren’t afraid of the dialect!

Otherworldly and beautiful

I was entranced by this book. The language, grammar, vocabulary alone are transporting; the descriptions of the natural world are glorious. Sui generis and wonderful. You’ll know within the first few paragraphs or minutes if this is for you.

Haunting tale

Real life and still not.
I can hear echoes of medieval times. Tudor maybe.
Performed so well it pulls you into a deeper level than I believe the story would by itself.
Story is sweet, sad, wrenching, and yet triumphant all at once.
A young woman who learns to love herself regardless of her “deformity”. Precious Bane is one of those books that every girl should read at around 12 or 13. I wish I had. Blessed thing to love yourself before you are old.

A world come alive

This book and the reader revives a time gone by in rural England, before machinery and simple education were present. The language of old is delightful to hear, and the story line fascinates. And the description of how beautiful the small and large details of the countryside are vivid and beguiling. I highly recommend it!