Lost and Found

In my early 20s I was on a George Eliot kick, working my way through her novels. I adored Middlemarch and The Mill on the Floss. I admired Adam Bede and Daniel Deronda.  But my Eliot obsession stopped with Silas Marner (1861) when, after reading the first few pages, I tossed it aside.

At the Sydney Writers' Festival in 2016 I went to a session in which Frank Moorehouse spoke about how he was re-reading George Eliot. At the time I got excited at the prospect of re-reading her too, but felt I should tackle the ones I had never read first. I pulled Silas off the shelf, placed it on the pile beside my bed and left it there. Every time I went to reassess my to-be-read pile, Silas gazed at me longingly, and each time I put it back on the pile. Then, late last year I decided to get it off the pile for once and for all by reading this long overdue novel.

Silas is a weaver who lives a simple life in a small town. Wrongly accused of theft, he is betrayed by those closest to him and forced into exile. In Raveloe he begins again, living as a hermit, hoarding his savings under the floorboards and becoming known as a reclusive miser. Like Gollum and his precious ring, Silas regularly pulls out his stash to count and admire it.

When Silas is robbed of all his money, he faces having to start all over again. He soon discovers that money is not the key to happiness, as he finds an orphaned toddler and raises her as his own child. In doing so, he becomes part of the Raveloe community, regains his faith and reconnects with others.

Eliot has a talent for writing with strong realism - creating a sense of rural England and the people who reside there. However, I honestly did not enjoy this novel, finding it quite dull until the last quarter when Silas became a father to the girl. So, while I am glad to have finally read Silas Marner, I cannot say it was worth the wait!