Precious Bane

Precious Bane is a historical romance by Mary Webb, first published in 1924. It won the Prix Femina Vie Heureuse Prize in 1926. Webb wrote it while living in Hampstead Grove in London.^[1]

Prue Sarn – The narrator of the novel is in her teens when we first meet her. She is loving towards her mother, obedient to her demanding brother. The natural world of Shropshire offers her some consolation to the back-breaking work on the farm, and the fact that she can read and work with numbers is a source of pride and solace. Her "hare-shotten" lip is her own bane, and she bears it at times with dignity, at other times with deep feelings of shame. The English poet and critic writes that "...Prue is spirited and stoical, with a vein of humor and no self-pity: her hare-lip is a source of wonder to her as much as heartbreak."^[5]

Glen Cavaliero

Gideon Sarn – A few years older than Prue, he inherited both his father's farm and cruel temperament. He is Prue's opposite number, taking no delight in nature, and showing little affection for his aging mother. Above all else he is motivated by money, and relentlessly works the farm, and Prue, to get ahead. His single-minded determination to become rich is symbolized in part by his decision to put most of his fields in wheat (called corn in the book in accordance with British usage), the crop that was at the time the most lucrative.

Beguildy - Owner of a neighboring farm, a man more committed to his wizardry and spells than to his fields and crops. A poor or more likely lazy farmer, he is often gone for days at a time, working charms and spells believed to heal the sick and injured in the community. He teaches Prue to read, write and work with numbers, but shows little care for his wife and daughter.

Jancis Beguildy - The wizard's daughter and Gideon Sarn's intended wife, plump, blonde with a lush, pleasing mouth always forming a lovely "oh."

Missis Beguildy - Beguildy's wife who fears her husband and yet does not hesitate to collude with Gideon and Jancis in their plans to be together. She is crafty in her methods to get her husband out of the house for days at a time, and she is sharp in her observations of the people in the community.

Kester Woodseaves - He is a skilled itinerant weaver, making his living by traveling through Shropshire, weaving in the homes and farms. He is intelligent and compassionate - he prevents a from taking place on a market day in town, but pays dearly for his efforts. He is a discerning judge of character, quickly recognizing Prue's qualities despite her deformed lip.

bull baiting

The critic G. K. Chesterton wrote that the characters in this novel "live a hard life; they probably on occasion live a hungry life; they are quite capable in some circumstances of living a gross or ferocious life. But they do, in a very deep sense, live a full life."^[4]

Adaptations[edit]

A planned film adaptation by the Rank Organisation in 1947, to be directed by Robert Siodmak and featuring Ann Todd and David Farrar, was abandoned when the star Robert Donat withdrew from the production.^[6] In 1957 the book was made into a six-part BBC television drama series starring Patrick Troughton and Daphne Slater. Under its French title Sarn, it was produced as a television play by French Television ORTF in 1968, with Dominique Labourier as Prue, Josep Maria Flotats as Gedeon and Pierre Vaneck as Kester; the director was Claude Santelli. In 1989 it was again adapted for British television by the BBC, directed by Christopher Menaul and starring Clive Owen and Janet McTeer.

Greco, Joseph. The File on Robert Siodmak in Hollywood, 1941-1951. Universal-Publishers, 1999.

Wade, Christopher. The Streets of Hampstead. Camden History Society, 2000.

at Faded Page (Canada)

Precious Bane

public domain audiobook at LibriVox