George Eliot - notable among Victorian novelists not only for her books but also for her personal life-story - explored through five of her fictional characters
4.Silas Marner

It's sometimes said that George Eliot never wrote an autobiography because she had written her own life into her key characters.

Presenter Kathryn Hughes hears from contemporary writer David Constantine and recent Eliot biographer Philip Davis about Silas Marner, the embittered small-town line-weaver whose life is transformed when he fosters a small foundling, Eppie.

Eliot never had children herself, but she took very seriously her responsibilities towards the sons of her partner, George Henry Lewes. Did she pour her understanding of children and the redemptive power of parenthood into the character of Silas?

With readings from the novel by Juliet Stevenson

Producer: Beaty Rubens Show less