Precious Bane: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

Precious Bane, credited to Mary Webb, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of Precious Bane by Mary Webb. Read in English by NoelBadrian Published in 1924, Precious Bane is a novel by Mary Webb (1881 - 1927) which touches on ambition, prejudice and hatred but also on the power of love. Prue Sarn is a farm girl in rural Shropshire during the period of the Napoleonic Wars and is viewed with suspicion by the local community because of having been born with a harelip. Her ambitious and domineering brother betrays her and her superstitious neighbours accuse her of witchcraft. An itinerant weaver Kester Woodseaves, makes his living by weaving for the local people in their homes. Like Prue, he loves the natural world and comes to recognises Prue's inner strength and beauty. ( Noel Badrian)

Recording facts

• Recording title: Precious Bane
• Author credits: Mary Webb
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 33
• Listed recording duration: 11:27:22

Catalogue topics

• historical
• rural life
• prejudice
• harelip

Opening tracks: first 24 of 33

1. 00 - Introduction and Foreword — 13:49
2. 01 - Book 1 Ch. 1 Sarn Mere — 10:29
3. 02 - Book 1 Ch. 2 Telling The Bees — 27:06
4. 03 - Book 1 Ch. 3 Prue Takes The Bidding Letters — 7:50
5. 04 - Book 1 Ch. 4 Torches And Rosemary — 17:23
6. 05 - Book 1 Ch. 5 The First Swath Falls — 20:34
7. 06 - Book 1 Ch. 6 ''Saddle Your Dreams Before You Ride ’Em'' — 20:12
8. 07 - Book 1 Ch. 7 Pippins And Jargonelles — 15:51
9. 08 - Book 2 Ch. 1 Riding To Market — 30:11
10. 09 - Book 2 Ch. 2 The Mug Of Cider — 21:19
11. 10 - Book 2 Ch. 3 ''Or Die In ’Tempting It'' — 15:38
12. 11 - Book 2 Ch. 4 The Wizard Of Plash — 13:38
13. 12 - Book 2 Ch. 5 The Love-Spinning — 14:30
14. 13 - Book 2 Ch. 6 The Game Of Costly Colours — 24:01
15. 14 - Book 2 Ch. 7 ''The Maister Be Come'' — 10:49
16. 15 - Book 2 Ch. 8 Raising Venus — 13:34
17. 16 - Book 2 Ch. 9 The Game Of Conquer — 29:11
18. 17 - Book 3 Ch. 1 The Hiring Fair — 25:59
19. 18 - Book 3 Ch. 2 The Baiting — 22:13
20. 19 - Book 3 Ch. 3 ''The Best Tall Script, Flourished'' — 30:18
21. 20 - Book 3 Ch. 4 Jancis Runs Away Part 1 — 24:38
22. 21 - Book 3 Ch. 4 Jancis Runs Away Part 2 — 26:13
23. 22 - Book 3 Ch. 5 Dragon-Flies — 22:55
24. 23 - Book 4 Ch. 1 Harvest Home Part 1 — 21:08

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.