Precious Bane

By: Mary Webb

Narrated by: Justine Eyre

Length: 9 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's Summary

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

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.

What a tale...

Stumbled across, finished in one day, so engrossed was I. This tale, set in a different time, has it all; insight into the human condition and a lovely human being at the core. The story took several unexpected paths and I'll be thinking about this one for a while, feels like an instant classic. Narration brought it to life. Definitely recommend it if you like Austen or Dickens.

One of the greatest love stories ever told

One of my absolute favorites. Poignant and beautiful and lovely in every way. I’ve read the book several times, watched the movie, and now have listened on Audible. The performance was good, maybe not quite as I would have imagined, but good enough. The story is as classically perfect as they get.

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!

Beautiful beautiful tale beautifully read

if you haven't read this story then don't miss out. Moved me to tears. And poetic rhythm to some passages particularly about noticing and being part of the world of wild things

It's set in Shropshire!!

This is my absolute favourite novel, dramatised to perfection in (I think) the 1980s and starring Janet McTeer . However this audio rendition has simply not been thought through. The novel is written in the first person using the voice, lyrical intensity and dialect of Prue Sarn, the daughter of a Shropshire farmer and a child of the land itself. No offence to the narrator used here, but to deliver a reading of this wonderful book in a middle class non Salopian voice robs it at a single stroke of any dramatic authenticity whatsoever. I'm really disppointed and have just given up after the first chapter. Please, audiobook producers, THINK and KNOW YOUR BOOK and don't waste everyone's time and money by commissioning readings where the voice isn't authentic.

Great story, evocative of place and language

Almost an ethanography, Prue Sarne is lyrical, practical and the embodiment of the ecoerience of being other - albeit with a great ending ! Love this book !!

The narrator tried.

She really did.
Pronunciations were wrong all through the reading ,someone should have put the narrator right on these as the impression was given that she was reading a lot of the words for the first time.
And then there were the words said in dialect which didn't sit well with the narrator's well spoken voice.
Finally,she can't do accents.
The book however is beautiful.

Thourly enjoyed this touching tale

Beautifully narrated. Old fashioned as it may be an e achanting story with wonderful insights and descriptions of the natural world.

`perfect

This book has the best last line of any novel, ever. It is a wonderful, luminous story, set in an England that has vanished, described in beguiling detail. Prue Sarn is a terrific character, telling her own story as it unfolded - her parents, brother, friend sand the locals all stand out clearly. Kester Woodseaves is as Fellina says, a man to die for. They don't write books like this any more. It is seriously perfect. The narration is a bit busy but does the story no harm and is very poignant really.


if you have never read this book , please, LISTEN NOW. I first read it when I was 22 and 50. years later, I love it still, and it says different things to me now. I finished it last night. Prue! I miss you today.

My favourite book ever

My favourite book ever ruined by a narrator who did not do a very good job !

Refreshing

I loved this book. It took me back in time yet discissed topics such as being different and how the mob can create a scapegoat so easily.

An appreciative Shropshire Lass

I read this book many years ago and had difficulty with the old Shropshire within it and found Justine’s performance admirable. A lovely old story of love and hate and everything between- loved it.

Transported back in time

a completely unselfconscious performance by the narrator who perfectly inhabited the spirit of Pru Sarn and all the characters from a time and place virtually untouched by the industrial revolution that was changing the outside world. I've always loved the story since the 1980s film adaptation which gave me my first education in the joys and sorrows of love. I was transported back to that time in my life by this beautiful adaption and am very sorry to have to leave it now.