''Daughter of Silence'' (1961) is a crime novel by Australian author

Morris West Morris Langlo West (26 April 19169 October 1999) was an Australian novelist and playwright, best known for his novels ''The Devil's Advocate (West novel), The Devil's Advocate'' (1959), ''The Shoes of the Fisherman (novel), The Shoes of the Fi ...

.Austlit - ''Daughter of Silence'' by Morris West
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Plot outline

In mid-summer in a Tuscan village a twenty-four-year-old woman shoots the town's mayor dead in revenge for the death of her mother during the war. The subsequent trial brings out secrets both personal and political.

Critical reception

Joyce Halstead in ''The Australian Women's Weekly'' was impressed with the work: "Excellent writing in an attractive novel which uses all the gimmicks for modern reader success - an Italian setting, a court scene with a beautiful young woman on trial for murder, and intricately woven love affairs...The whole resolves itself fairly expectedly and tritely - but the intellectual arguments, convincing dialogue, emotional undertones, and competently wrought plot make it a very satisfying story."

Broadway play

''Daughter of Silence'' was adapted as a Broadway play in 1961 with

Janet Margolin Janet Natalie Margolin (July 25, 1943 – December 17, 1993) was an American theater, television and film actress. Early life Margolin was born in New York City to a Jewish family. Her father, Benjamin Margolin, was a Russian Jewish accountan ...

who received a nomination for the

Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play The Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play is an honor presented at the Tony Awards, a ceremony established in 1947 as the Antoinette Perry Awards for Excellence in Theatre, to actresses for quality supporting roles in a Broadway theatre, ...

. This play was performed at the

Music Box Theatre The Music Box Theatre is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 239 West 45th Street (George Abbott Way) in the Theater District, Manhattan, Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, New York, U.S. Opened in 1921, the Music Box ...

, New York, in September 1961. It was directed by Vincent J. Donehue. It ran for 36 performances.A Letter from New York: The Current Theatrical Season Miguel A. Bernad Philippine Studies Vol. 10, No. 2 (April 1962), pp. 304-312 (9 pages)

Notes

* Dedication: For Hilda * Epigraph: Alta vendetta d'alto silenzio e figlia/ Noble vengeance is the daughter of deep silence./ (Alfieri: La Congiura de' Pazzi, Act 1. Sc. 1.)

References

External links

Daughter of Silence
at Ausstage
Daughter of Silence
at

IBDB The Internet Broadway Database (IBDB) is an online database of Broadway theatre productions and their personnel. It was conceived and created by Karen Hauser in 1996 and is operated by the Research Department of The Broadway League, a trade asso ...