Silas Marner

Silas Marner is the third novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, it is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging fromReligionto industrialisation to community.

A gentle linen weaver in a small English town is wrongly accused of a theft goes into seclusion and finds redemption in his unselfish love for an abandoned child who mysteriously appears at his cottage.

David Friedrich Strauss's Das Leben Jesu kritisch bearbeitet (1835) brought about a new dawn in Biblical criticism by applying the 'myth theory' to the life of Jesus. Strauss treated the Gospel narrative like any other historical work, and denied all supernatural elements in the Gospels. Das Leben Jesu created an overnight sensation and Strauss became embroiled in fierce controversy. This earliest English version of 1846 was translated by the novelist George Eliot, and was her first published book.

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

Silas Marner loves only one thing - his money. Each night he takes it out from it's hiding place and counts it. Then two things happen to change his life - his gold coins are stolen and a little girl comes to live with him. Slowly, Silas Marner starts to change.

An Old Best-Seller Refreshed for the 21st Century. Silas Marner, a weaver, had been betrayed by his best friend and the woman Marner loved. He sought refuge in a new community and turned his affections from human beings to the accumulation of gold. Since he was friendless in the new community, he became an object of superstition and speculation -- until a orphaned infant was left at his door. As we know today, the best rehabilitation can come from having somebody to love, to care for. The circumstances of life robbed Marner of his accumulated wealth and left him with only the orphan as the object of his affections. The warm story that follows tells a tale familiar to most parents, how having a child transforms lives, focusing our concerns on the new life and away from ourselves. This book has often been assigned reading in literature classes, but students struggle with the original's quaint language and difficult sentence structure. This version has been adapted into modern English to make it much more accessible to the modern reader. It is an old best-seller refreshed for a 21st Century audience.