Silas Marner: George Eliot

Our consciousness rarely registers the beginning of a growth within us any more than without us: there have been many circulations of the sap before we detect the smallest sign of the bud.
Set in the agricultural town of Raveloe in the English countryside, Silas Marner is a tragic figure. Exiled from a religious community because of a wrongful accusation of theft, he works from day to day as a weaver, hoarding his money and living a lonely life as a recluse. It is only when his money is stolen and a small orphan girl, Eppie appear that Silas's fortunes start to change and he truly begins to regain his faith in life.