Mary Webb was an English romantic novelist and poet of the early 20th century. Born in 1881, her work is set chiefly in the Shropshire countryside and among Shropshire characters and people whom she knew. Her novels have been succesfully dramatized, most notably the film Gone to Earth by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. They also inspired the famous parody Cold Comfort Farm. Her life was uneventful, spent mostly in pursuit of literary recognition that would come only after her death. She died at age 46.