Precious Bane
About this audiobook
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 amongst 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’s Cold Comfort Farm, Precious Bane is a novel that haunts us with its beauty and its timeless truths about our deepest hopes.
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About the author
Mary Webb (1881–1927), poet, mystic, and lover of nature, spent most of her life in Shropshire, England, which features in all of her novels. Admiring contemporaries described Webb as a “strange genius” and “one of the best living writers.” After a life of illness and near-poverty, Webb died in Hampstead, England.
Justine Eyre is a classically trained actress who has narrated many audiobooks, earning the prestigious Audie Award for best narration and numerous Earphones Awards. She is multilingual and known for her great facility with accents. She has appeared on stage, with leading roles in King Lear and The Crucible, and has had starring roles in four films on the indie circuit. Her television credits include Two and a Half Men and Mad Men.
