Silas Marner

When Mary Ann Evans was a year old her family moved near to the village of Bedworth, and this provided the setting for Silas Marner. The old village has long since disappeared in favour of sprawling twentieth century development. In Eliot's story Bedworth becomes Raveloe and it is to this place that Marner moves from a city, where he had been falsely accused of stealing, thus losing his livelihood, his love and his reputation.

In Raveloe he practises his craft as a weaver but becomes a misanthrope and a miser, finding his only solace in hoarding the money he has earned. One night his money is stolen and he becomes deeply depressed once more. His life is redeemed when a two year old wanders into his house. Marner discovers her mother dead in the snow. She was unmarried and there is no one to care for the child. Silas takes on the responsibility and his joyless life is transformed.

The book was first published in 1861.