In Eliot's most familiar tale, and a high point of 19th-century pastoral fiction, after suffering betrayal and rejection, Silas Marner leaves his community to settle in a strange place. There the lonely weaver becomes obsessed with accumulating money, until one day a little golden-haired orphan girl wanders into his home... Set at the beginning of the industrial revolution, Silas Marner weaves a telling social commentary into an inspiring tale of love and redemption.

 
Chris Bohjalian is the author of Midwives, The Law of Similars, and Transsister Radio, among other books. His new novel, Buffalo Soldier, about a foster child will be published in May.