It took me a little while to get into a comfortable flow when reading the colloquial conversation but I did eventually. My first by Mary Webb and I’ll look for more. Young Hazel doesn’t have the right skills to survive in a mans world, nor does she want to, she's happiest with the animals, trees and plants that live and grow all around her. Circumstance, destiny, fate, call it what you like, but Hazel’s life is sadly on a road to derailment. I got very attached to Hazel and the ending was a surprise! ( )

really didn't like this at first. started reading about 1 chapter every other day. then I got into it and then I didn't like the ending. ( )

I recently discovered Mary Webb through her best-known work, "Precious Bane." While "Gone to Earth" also has the lush and lyrical natural descriptions, it is not as compelling because its main character, Hazel Woodus, is not a well rounded figure with clear desires and thoughts, unlike Prue Sarn in "Precious Bane," who is fully realized and fleshed out.

Hazel lives in a glade with her father, a beekeeper and coffin maker, but takes after her deceased mother, who is described as a gypsy with a dark, wild soul (or something like that). The implication is that Hazel is her purest self when close to nature, a sort of elemental child of the earth. Trouble comes along when two men, the preacher Edward and the squire Reddin, both become obsessed with Hazel. The story plays out a bit like "Tess of the D'Urbervilles" but told from a woman's perspective, the moral of the story being (thank you, "Breakfast at Tiffany's") that you "can't tame a wild thing."

For me the problem is that Hazel never progresses beyond the status of a "wild thing," a manic pixie dreamgirl without any other qualities than her intense love of nature, pagan urges, and protection of injured and vulnerable animals. She is so passive about her relationships with men that she becomes more of a symbol and not a person (this bugs me about Tess, too).

Webb is pretty frank about sex, franker than Hardy without being at all explicit, and I think part of the message she is trying to get across is that both Hazel's relationships are unfulfilling because each is missing an essential part. Reddin is sexually attractive and obsesses her, but she doesn't get any enjoyment out of their relationship because he is emotionally and physically abusive and wants to tame her. Edward seems to try and understand her wild soul and wants to let her be herself, but he's too afraid of taking her innocence away to actually consummate their marriage.

It is the setup for a wonderfully tragic story, but Hazel herself wasn't compelling enough to bring everything together for me. Still, it is gorgeously written and immersive in the world of rural Shropshire, and I look forward to reading more of Webb's novels. ( )

This author and book was suggested to me by my daughter. The main character is Hazel Woodus, a childlike woman who lives in the forest outside of Shropshire, England in the later part of the 19th Century. She is loved by two men: a pastor, Edward and a squire, Reddin. Both of them with two different natures but both of one desire, to tame her. This book sounds like a gothic tale, but it is not. Mary Webb, the author, has her own wonderful voice and unique style of writing, like none other. It recalls the work of Thomas Hardy and the Brontes in it's darkness and angst. I plan on reading Precious Bane next. This is one of my all time favorite novels. ( )

This author and book was suggested to me by my daughter. The main character is Hazel Woodus, a childlike woman who lives in the forest outside of Shropshire, England in the later part of the 19th Century. She is loved by two men: a pastor, Edward and a squire, Reddin. Both of them with two different natures but both of one desire, to tame her. This book sounds like a gothic tale, but it is not. Mary Webb, the author, has her own wonderful voice and unique style of writing, like none other. It recalls the work of Thomas Hardy and the Brontes in it's darkness and angst. I plan on reading Precious Bane next. This is one of my all time favorite novels. ( )