Webb, Mary

▪ British author

née  Meredith  

born March 25, 1881, Leighton-under-the-Wrekin, Shropshire, Eng.

died Oct. 8, 1927, St. Leonards, Sussex

 English novelist best known for her book Precious Bane (1924). Her lyrical style conveys a rich and intense impression of the Shropshire countryside and its people. Her love of nature and a sense of impending doom within her novels invite comparison with those qualities in the works of Thomas Hardy.

      Mrs. Webb was educated in a school in Southport. In 1912 she married Henry Webb, a schoolteacher, and except for her last six years (which were spent in London), the Webbs lived in Shropshire, the locale of her novels. Her other works include The Golden Arrow (1916), Gone to Earth (1917), The House in Dormer Forest (1920), Seven for a Secret (1922), and the unfinished historical novel Armour Wherein He Trusted (1929). Her Fifty-One Poems appeared posthumously in 1946.

Additional Reading

Gladys Mary Coles, The Flower of Light (1978), is a biography. Michèle Aina Barale, Daughters and Lovers (1986), examines her life and writing.

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