Bought this in 1976 and don’t think I have ever read it. It is bloody good. Quite simple, short, and beautifully compressed tale of English village life in the early 19th century.
Silas Marner is a weaver, who after misfortune in his town of birth appears in this village, regarded with some suspicion by the inhabitants. He wins redemption by adopting the — I was going to say illegitimate but she isn’t but has been disowned with her mother (daughter of one of the local squirearchy).
Trapped in a childless marriage to the respectable second wife (who knew nothing of the first) he tries to reclaim his child with promises of respectability etc, but she will have none of it, and her love redeems Marner.
Old Penguin book with an introduction by Queenie Leavis, who explains (quite well) the historical, religious, political, and sociological background, as well as analogies with 'Pilgrims Progress', the influence of Wordsworth, etc. But George Eliot is a great writer, particularly when compressed like this.
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