Silas Marner by George Eliot
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This classic was required reading 50 years ago i high school and while most of my classmates hated reading it, I loved it. I recently reread it and stil feel the same way. It is a story of English country people, from simple laborers to wealthy landowners, and the role of religion and community in their lives. That makes it sound dull, but there's lots of conflict, injustices, and drama. Uncommon for authors of her time period, she tastefully dealt with forbidden adult themes like sex out of wedlock, unwanted pregnancy, drug abuse and the power of a child’s love and accomplished this without any foul language, gory violence, or gratuitous sex scenes. It is a very touching "reclamation" story with complex characters I came to love. Well worth reading.

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