Silas Marner

“Silas Marner” – George Elliot, Hardcover, 209 pgs.

For years the people of the sleepy little English village of Raveloe have had questions about Silas Marner. Who is this mysterious little man living all alone in the dreary cottage by the stone pit? Where did he come from? Why does he weave from dawn until dusk hoarding all his gold? Is he only a harmless old miser? Or is he a fiend in league with the Devil?
With consummate artistry, distinguished Victorian novelist George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) answers these questions and reveals the secret past of Silas Marner. With classic skill she interwines betrayal, rejection, and the wounding that embittered him toward God and drove him to a lonely, loveless life of self-imposed slavery. There are surprises along the way as the author slowly, but dramatically, unravels the agonies of Silas and others with heartaches similar to her own. In the end, Silas becomes rich in the true sense of the word, receiving a treasure of more value than any earthly wealth, a treasure that reconciles Silas to God, to himself, and to Raveloe.
Silas Marner is set in a dim, distant past that is unfamilier to the modern reader, but it has a message for people of every era. Comfort for the broken-hearted, hope for the despairing, love for the rejected, faith for the skeptic – these are but a few of the rewards to be discovered in this enduring classic.

Required for English Pace 141