Precious Bane
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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 harelipβher βprecious bane.β 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 Prueβs true beauty is set against the tragic drama of Prueβs 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 Woolfβs To the Lighthouse, E. M. Forsterβs A Passage to India, and Stella Gibbonsβs 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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Mary Webb (1881β1927), 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 βstrange geniusβ and βone of the best living writers.β After a life of illness and near-poverty, Webb died in Hampstead, England.
JUSTINE EYRE has turned her passion for reading and remarkable facility with accents into her dream career. This classically trained, multilingual actress has narrated well over 400 audiobooks and been honored to receive a coveted Audie Award and multiple AudioFile Earphones Awards. Appearing in leading roles onstage in King Lear and The Crucible, she has also graced the screen in Two and Half Men and Mad Men amongst her many television credits.
