Prue Sarn's Words of Wisdom

Precious Bane by Mary Webb
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I discovered this book through a newsfeed of some sort, investigated it in Amazon and Goodreads (over 4 stars for both), and decided to give it a try.

Precious Bane was first published in 1924. The setting is Shropshire, England after the Napaleonic wars. I tell you this because I struggled with understanding some of the conversations at first, as the language used was representative of the time and people. Once I got to know Prue Sarn though, I was pulled into the story. There was a lot of descriptive narrative, and I skimmed through much of this as I was always eager to get into the heart of the story.

Prue was born with a hare-lip, and this caused her to be looked at with suspicion in the community. In fact, many thought her cursed and no-one ever expects that she will marry. Fortunately, Prue does meet a Prince Charming, although I will let you find out how this all comes about. .

What spoke to my heart throughout this book was Prue's innocence and wisdom. For example, regarding her hare-lip:

"It seems to me that often it's only when you begin to see other folks minding a thing like that for you, that you begin to mind it for yourself. I make no doubt, if Eve had been so unlucky as to have such a thing as a hare-lip, she'd not have minded it till Adam came by, looking doutfully upon her, and the Lord, frowning on His marred handiwork."

or, consider this, after an acquaintance remarked on the deformity:

"'A great affliction.' But afore she said it I'd forgotten it, so I hadna got it. I was out of the cage till she put me in again."

Isn't this just true? We ourselves, make the person with a handicapped more disabled because we insist on looking at the outside instead of the inside.

When Prue met her "maister" (the one she loved), she ponders:

"Times I wonder if heaven will be thus, a long gazing on a face you canna tire of, but must ever have one more glimpse."

Such a beautiful thought.

When her loved one was in danger, this is Prue's thought:

".. .it always seemed a strange thing to me that the Mother of Jesus could keep her hands off the centurion, and it could only have been because her Son had given orders afore. But indeed if it had been me, I think I should have forgot the orders."

I'm in danger of quoting so many things from this book, but I'll end with this one:

"There was a mommet once called Judas, and if he had started away from his set part in fear, we should none of us have been saved. Which is all a very strange mystery, and so we must leave it."

Indeed! These are the gems that kept me drawn in to the story. I'm very glad to have discovered this book.

View all my reviews