The Golden Curse

Mary Webb — an English writer and poet of the early 20th century, a "forgotten genius", whose work has been almost unknown in Russia for many years. Webb (née Meredith) was born in Leighton, a small village in Shropshire. Her mother, Alice, came from the family of Sir Walter Scott, the famous Scottish writer. Mary was the eldest of six children. When she was 14 years old, her mother fell seriously ill, and the care of her younger brothers and sisters fell on the girl. Her father, a teacher at a rural school, instilled in his daughter a passion for literature and a love for the local nature, which permeates all her later works.

"The Golden Curse" is one of the most successful works of Mary Webb. In 1926, the book was awarded the French "Femina" prize as the best foreign novel (among the nominees for this prize in different years were such English writers as Edward Forster and Virginia Woolf). The action of the novel, like that of other works by Webb, takes place against the backdrop of poetic Shropshire landscapes and transports readers to the early 19th century. It is a bright and touching story of a girl marked by fate, for whom her "curse" becomes a source of inner strength and, through pain and suffering, helps her find love.