Introduction to Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe by George Eliot (Mary Anne Evans)

Silas Marner, The Weaver of Raveloe (1861), written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans) is the story of a heart’s redemption after devastating loss. Eliot creates a world in which benevolent powers of the universe seem to conspire toward just, happy, and loving ends–powers that “weave” themselves into the life of the rural community of Raveloe in England. In this beautifully-told morality tale, those who do evil or act selfishly eventually face the consequences of their behavior; those who have been sorely wronged are, in time, bountifully recompensed. The transformation of the hapless weaver, Silas Marner, makes up the warp and weft of this beloved novel.