Summary
Silas Marner is a weaver who is wrongly accused by his
‘best friend’ of stealing money from the church. He loses
all his faith in people and the church and moves to the
small village of Raveloe. There, he lives an isolated life,
weaving all day and counting the money he has made
at night. He doesn’t go to church or the village bar and
the other villagers are suspicious of him. Silas makes a
lot of money, however, and after some years he has a lot
of gold and silver coins. One night, when Silas is out,
the younger son of the village Squire steals the money
and Silas is unhappier than ever. A few months later, a
woman collapses in the snow and dies and her little girl
wanders into Silas’s cottage. Silas finds her, gives her the
name ‘Eppie’ and decides to bring her up as his daughter.
Now he is a happy man. Unknown to everyone, Eppie is
in fact the secret child of the Squire’s oldest son, Godfrey.
When Eppie is eighteen, Godfrey reveals his secret to his
wife. They have no children of their own and they try,
unsuccessfully, to adopt Eppie. Although they offer her a
life of wealth, Eppie loves ‘her father’, Silas, and prefers to
live a simple life with him.
Chapters 1–3: Silas Marner is an honest, religious man,
who is in love with a girl called Sarah. He loses everything,
however, when his friend, William Dane, betrays him.
William manages to convince the church people that Silas
has stolen some money. Forced from his hometown, Silas
goes to live in Raveloe in a small cottage by the quarry. He
works hard and earns a lot of money, but he lives a lonely
life and rarely mixes with the village people. The village
Squire has two sons. One of them, Godfrey, is a good man
who is in love with Nancy Lammeter. The other, Dunstan,
is a drunk and a liar. Dunstan knows that Godfrey has
secretly married a poor woman called Molly and he uses
this knowledge to persuade Godfrey to sell his horse to
get the money that Dunstan has taken from his father and
must return.
Chapters 4–6: Dunstan rides Godfrey’s horse to a hunt
to sell it. He agrees to sell the horse later that day to a
man called Bryce. Then, while jumping walls, he falls and
the horse dies. He begins walking home and passes Silas’s
house. He enters and steals two bags of money, which
have been hidden in a hole under the floor. Silas, who had
gone out to get water, returns and finds the money gone.
He goes to the village bar and tells the villagers what has
happened. They feel sorry for Silas and agree to help him
by searching his house for clues to who the thief is.
Chapters 7–9: After finding a tinder-box near the quarry,
some of the villagers believe that a pedlar who had visited
Raveloe a month earlier was the thief. Nobody suspects
Dunstan, who hasn’t arrived home. Godfrey finds out
from Bryce that his horse is dead and decides to tell his
father, the Squire, the whole story. The next day, however,
he lacks the courage to tell his father about his secret
marriage, although he does tell him about the money
Dunstan has taken. The Squire insists that Godfrey ask
Nancy to marry him. Godfrey is afraid as he knows this
is impossible. Meanwhile, the villagers try to be kind to
Silas. One woman, Mrs Winthrop, visits him with her
son, Aaron. She takes him cakes and tries to persuade him
to go to church on Christmas day. Silas is polite to her,
but he is still very sad about the money and stays at home
alone at Christmas.
Chapters 10–12: On New Year’s Eve, the Squire holds
a party. Godfrey’s wife, Molly, is on her way there to tell
everybody about her marriage. It’s very cold and she takes
some opium and then collapses in the snow. Her young
daughter wanders off and finds warmth in Silas’s cottage.
Silas finds and comforts her and then finds her mother’s
body in the snow. He goes to the Squire’s party with the
child. Godfrey recognises her but doesn’t tell anybody
she is his child. The doctor proclaims Molly dead and
Silas says that he wants to keep the child. Mrs Winthrop
teaches Silas how to look after the child, who he has
called Eppie. Although at times it is difficult, Silas’s life is
transformed by the sweet child. He loves her dearly and
everybody in the village loves Eppie too.
Chapters 13–15: Sixteen years later, Godfrey is married
to Nancy and a happy Silas regularly attends church with
his ‘daughter’ Eppie. Mrs Winthrops’s son, Aaron, is in
love with Eppie and asks her to marry him. Godfrey and
Nancy are happy together but have never been able to
have children and although Godfrey wanted to adopt a
child, Nancy refused. One day, Godfrey comes home and
tells Nancy that Dunstan’s body has been found in the
quarry alongside Silas’s gold. Then he tells her everything
about his first wife and child. Nancy accepts it and says
that they must now look after Eppie as their own.
Chapters 16–18: Godfrey and Nancy visit Silas and
Eppie and they ask Eppie to go and live with them as
their daughter. Eppie refuses and although Godfrey tells
her the truth about her birth, it makes no difference to
Eppie, who knows only one real father, Silas. Godfrey and
Nancy leave empty-handed. Eppie marries Aaron and they
go to live with Silas. Their house is more beautiful now
as Godfrey has given them money and they feel like the
happiest people in the world.
