Silas Marner
Classic Fiction · No. 76 — A miser's gold replaced by a golden-haired child.
- Classic Fiction
- 28 min
- Ages 10–14
- 7 chapters
About this audiobook
Silas Marner is falsely accused of theft by his closest friend in the strict religious community of Lantern Yard, loses his fiancée, and settles as a solitary weaver in Raveloe. He hoards the gold from his work until Dunstan Cass steals it and disappears. On a snowy New Year's Eve, the impoverished Molly Farren dies on the road while her little daughter wanders into Silas's cottage. The child's father, Godfrey Cass, is secretly married to Molly but hides the truth so he can marry Nancy Lammeter. Silas adopts the girl, names her Eppie, and is drawn back into village life as neighbors help him raise her. Sixteen years later Dunstan's remains and Silas's gold are found in a drained quarry. Childless Godfrey and Nancy offer Eppie wealth and reveal her parentage, but she refuses to leave the father who raised her. Silas returns to Lantern Yard seeking answers and finds the old place erased by a factory; certainty never comes, but the life built with Eppie is enough.
Why it's worth a listen
Silas Marner loses his faith in people after a friend frames him for theft, then spends fifteen lonely years loving only the gold earned at his loom. When that gold is stolen and a small child appears at his hearth on New Year's Eve, the village recluse receives no magical replacement — he receives responsibility, community, and a chance to trust again.
A question to keep
What restores trust after betrayal: proof, justice, or the daily work of loving someone?
Chapters
- The Night Without Stories
- The Gold in the Stone Cottage
- The Empty Hearth
- A Golden Gift on New Year’s Eve
- The Growth of a Garden
- The Uncovered Truth
- A Question to Keep