May 2025-June, 2025: Silas Marner
by George Eliot
May 25 and June 22 at 1:00-3:00 PM (Pacific) | Virtual Event
This year, we will return to reading two novels, The Old Curiosity Shop (October 2024-April 2025) and Silas Marner (May-June 2025). Join Dickens enthusiasts and Pickwick Club members for a series of discussions about these books.
For two months, we will unpack George Eliot's novel, Silas Marner, about an ex-communicated linen weaver that is noted for its realistic portrayal of social dynamics while exploring themes such as community, religion, wealth, and purpose. George Eliot was, in fact, a pen name for novelist, journalist, translator, and poet Mary Ann Evans, whose works label her as one of the leading authors of the Victorian era. Silas Marner was Eliot's/Evans's third published book.
Reading Schedule
May 25 |
Chapters 1-10 with |
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Jun 22 | Chapters 11-21 (End of Book) with Wayne Batten |
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Recommended Edition: We recommend the Penguin Classics edition of the novel for its appendices and notes, but other versions are fine. First-time readers should avoid the Introduction if they don't want spoilers. Download the novel to read at Gutenburg.org or listen to it at LibriVox.org.
The Santa Cruz Pickwick (Book) Club, a branch of the Dickens Fellowship, is a community of local bookworms, students, and teachers who meet monthly to discuss a nineteenth-century novel. The Santa Cruz Public Libraries provide support for the reading group.