Silas Marner

Falsely accused and cut off from his past, Silas the weaver is reduced to a spider-like existence, endlessly weaving his web and hoarding his gold. Meanwhile, Godfrey Cass, son of the squire, contracts a secret marriage. While the village celebrates Christmas and New Year, two apparently inexplicable events occur. Silas loses his gold and finds a child on his hearth.

The imaginative control George Eliot displays as her narrative gradually reveals causes and connections has rarely been surpassed.