Mary Webb

Hazel Woodus is the daughter of a Welsh gypsy and a crazy bee-keeper. She is a creature of the woods and hills, at one with the seasons and the wild animals she loves. But because of her beauty and innocence she is drawn unwillingly into the world of mortal passion.

Born in the era of Waterloo in the wild country of Shropshire, Prudence Sarn is a passionate girl, cursed with a hare lip. Cursed for it, too, by the superstitious people amongst whom she lives. She loves two things: the remote countryside of her birth and Kester Woodseaves, the weaver.