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1Gone to Earth

By Mary Webb

"Gone to Earth" is the cry of fox hunters as the fox takes to its den and they lose the chase. Here, Mary Webb tells the story of Hazel Woodus whose understanding of her half tame fox cub contrasts with her misunderstanding of humanity. She is pursued by two very different men, the Squire of the Manor and the local Minister. Mary Webb wrote this book in 1917 and it is set in rural Shropshire of the late 1800s. (Summary by Rachel Lintern)

When Jenny goes to stay with her Aunt Abby, a caretaker in a grand old manor-house, she discovers a wonderful twisting passage on the second floor with an array of colourful characters living in the rooms along it – each of them with a story to tell. (Summary by Xenutia)

A delightful collection of humorous childrens' verse, describing the life and feelings of a little boy. - Summary by Caro Davy

When her parents go to India for two years, 9 year old Jenny is cared for by her aunts. Aunt Abby is caretaker in a large many-roomed house, where Jenny meets and hears the stories of many interesting occupants. The owner of the house is remote in both location and character. She visits only occasionally, but what was her story, and how will she react to Jenny's presence? - Summary by Carod

Mary Webb was a novelist and poet and two of her novels "Gone to Earth" and "Precious Bane" have been successfully adapted for film and television. She was passionate about nature and particularly the Shropshire countryside where she grew up and spent much of her life. At the age of 20, she was diagnosed with the autoimmune disease known as Graves' disease, a thyroid condition. She was often confined to her bed but came to believe that her love of and connection with nature helped in her healing. "The Spring of Joy: A Little Book of Healing" published in 1917 is a collection of essays which celebrate the natural world with poetic and descriptive brilliance. It was actually written some years earlier while she was recovering from her first bout of illness. Her dedication for the book reads: TO THE WEARY AND WOUNDED IN THE BATTLE OF LIFE THIS LITTLE BOOK IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED - Summary by Noel Badrian

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)

7Garies and their Friends

By Frank Webb

The book which now appears before the public may be of interest in relation to a question which the late agitation of the subject of slavery has raised in many thoughtful minds, viz. — Are the race at present held as slaves capable of freedom, self-government, and progress. The author is a coloured young man, born and reared in the city of Philadelphia. This city, standing as it does on the frontier between free and slave territory, has accumulated naturally a large population of the mixed and African race. Being one of the nearest free cities of any considerable size to the slave territory, it has naturally been a resort of escaping fugitives, or of emancipated slaves. In this city they form a large class — have increased in numbers, wealth, and standing — they constitute a peculiar society of their own, presenting many social peculiarities worthy of interest and attention. The representations of their positions as to wealth and education are reliable, the incidents related are mostly true ones, woven together by a slight web of fiction. From the Preface by Harriet Beecher Stowe

Deborah, a young girl from a Shropshire farm family, falls so deeply in love with the new preacher that she agrees to live with him as man and wife without marriage. She instinctively understands that finding love is like finding the mystical golden arrow--a lesson that Stephen has yet to learn. Their relationship, combining the most pragmatic aspects of rural life with a sublime vision of the natural world, is paralleled by that of her brother Joe and his bride Lily, a restless girl who sees her marriage only as an escape from her domineering father. - Summary by Anne Erickson

9Knock Three Times!

By Marion St. John Webb

“Jack and Molly were twins, and this was their ninth birthday. Such a happy, exciting day it had been; it felt like a birthday all day long, so you can guess how jolly it was, and how special it made Jack and Molly feel. Little did they guess what a weird and mysterious end to the day was now approaching!.... “Had Aunt Phœbe known when she bought ‘this useful little thing’ what it Really Was—could she have foreseen any of the mysterious happenings that were to follow the arrival of her birthday present—she would have preferred to send her niece half a dozen of the most jingly silver bangles ever made; for she disapproved of adventures in any shape or form, even more than she disapproved of bangles. Yet it was entirely through Aunt Phœbe that Jack and Molly took part in the adventure of the Grey Pumpkin at all.” - Summary excerpted from Chapter 1 of <i>Knock Three Times!</i>

10Girls of Chequertrees

By Marion St. John Webb

Pamela Heath, a pleasant 16-year-old girl living quietly at home with her parents and siblings, receives a peculiar invitation one day. An odd little old man delivers a letter from Emily Crabingway, her mother’s fourth cousin, who wants to know if Pamela will come and look after her house, Chequertrees, for 6 months while she is in Scotland on business. Three other girls will stay there with her. If they all comply with certain conditions (no visits to/from relatives; no letters, only one postcard a month; and stay out of the locked room on the first floor), they will each receive £50 at the end of their stay. Pamela decides to accept the invitation, and the rest of this delightful story is about her experiences at Chequertrees. Summary by Winnifred Assmann