George Eliot's third novel has been reissued in the first edition of 1861. The story of cataleptic, miserly weaver, Silas Marner, is an unhappy one at the beginning of the novel. Cast out of his Calvinist community, he is left alone to accumulate a useless fortune through his loom during the new Industrial Age. But when his money is stolen and he adopts a child, his life becomes unrecognizable. Eliot's previous two novels dealt with the tragedy and the injustices faced by fallen women. And this novel continues to raise her characteristic questions about social inequalities, the effects of extreme religion, and the worth of human experience.
