Silas Marner [Paperback]

The classic novel of hope, redemption, and the indomitable human spirit, from beloved novelist George Eliot.

In this heartwarming classic by George Eliot, a gentle linen weaver named Silas Marner is wrongly accused of a heinous theft actually committed by his best friend. Exiling himself to the rustic village of Raveloe, he becomes a lonely recluse. Ultimately, Marner finds redemption and spiritual rebirth through his unselfish love for an abandoned child who mysteriously appears one day in his isolated cottage.
 
Somber, yet hopeful, Eliot’s realistic depiction of an irretrievable past, tempered with the magical elements of myth and fairy tale, remains timeless in its understanding of human nature and has been beloved for generations.

With an Introduction by Frederick R. Karl
and an Afterword by Kathryn Hughes I thinkSilas Marnerholds a higher place than any of the author's works. It is more nearly a masterpiece; it has more of that simple, rounded, consummate aspect. . .which marks a classical work. —Henry JamesGeorge Eliot(Mary Ann Evans Cross [1819-80]) received an ordinary education and, upon leaving school at the age of sixteen, embarked on a program of independent study to further her intellectual growth. In 1841, she moved to Coventry with her father, where the influence of Skeptics and rationalists swayed her from an intense religious devotion to an eventual break with the church. Her father's death in 1849 left her with a samll legacy and hte freedom to pursue her literary inclinations. In 1851, she became the assistatn editor of thWestminster Review, a position she held for three years. In 1854 came the fated meeting with George Henry Lewes, the gifted editor ofThe Leader, who was to become her adviser and companion fo rthe next twenty-four years. Her books includeScenes of Clerical Life (1857),Adam Bede (1859),The Mill on the Floss(l³$