George Eliot: Silas Marner (1994, Penguin)
221 pages
English language
Published Nov. 20, 1994 by Penguin.
Eliot's touching novel of a miser and a little child combines the charm of a fairy tale with the humor and pathos of realistic fiction. The gentle linen weaver, Silas Marner, exiles himself to the town of Raveloe after being falsely accused of a heinous theft. There he begins to find redemption and spiritual rebirth through his unselfish love for an abandoned child he discovers in his isolated cottage.
3.5*
A cheering tale of redemption, with a plot that is rather simplistic and naive to a modern reader.
We must read it today not so much for the story as for the lovely phrasing and observational humour.
