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by Mary Webb
The Golden arrow was written in 1916, the first of Mary Webb's novels to be published.
It tells the tale of a poor farming community around the Stiperstones area in Shropshire and their need for marrying "right and proper" and the application of Christianity in every day life.
The story is about Stephen and Deb and their search for the Golden Arrow, a mythological arrow said to bond couples together if found on Palm Sunday.
The main characters are Stephen and Deborah. Stephen is idealistic, strong-willed, inconsiderate, self-absorbed. Deb is passionate, determined, with Stephen the focus of her life.
The other characters in the novel ensure the underlying sombre mood is maintained throughout the novel--such as Deb's father--deep, calm in all situations, sensible, merging Christianity and folklore--and his wife--strictly moral, critical, straight-talking but with a good heart. There is Eli, inflexible, using Christianity to stir up fear rather than love, loving his horse more than his daughter Lil. And as the story unwinds, the Devil's Chair, the threatening mass of rock depicting evil and ill-luck, sits over them, ever brooding......
We have sought it, we have sought the golden arrow!
(Bright the sally-willows sway)
Two and two by paths low and narrow,
Arm in crook along the mountain way.
Break o' frost and break o' day!
Some were sobbing through the gloom
When we found it, when we found the golden arrow-
Wand of willow in the secret cwm.
A sample chapter is available to view or download by following this link.
The full text can also be read online or downloaded free of charge. It is in XHTML format, like this page. Please note the file size is 518 kb and it may take some time to open-up if you choose to read it online. Downloading for reading later may be the preferred option and this can be typically achieved by calling up an option box. If you have a mouse and it is configured for left click to select, right clicking the link may give you this option. Link to the full text of The golden arrow
Page created 19 November 2002 and last
updated 19 November 2002
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