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18 of 19 found the following review helpful:
Brilliant drama at the changing of times Sep 08, 2006
By Victoria Tarrani
"writer, editor, artist, designer"
Teenager Nancy Walden, from a family with high social station is in trouble, and her mother throws her out. After committing her to a sanctuary, she then forces Nancy to give up everything she loved. After which Nancy is still not wanted at home.
Her parents send her to a private boarding school where she must not speak about the past; she was judged, juried, and sentenced by her domineering, narcissistic mother. Her secrets separate her from the others who try to become her friends.
Nancy is bright and is able to catch up on her education and blend in with a new group of girls. Eventually, she finds a very special friend, though not her roommate.
Her roommate has a delicious story on her own. I would love to read a sequel to this girl's plight.
In the school, Nancy discovers odd events occurring. However, the dramatic adventures she shares with her classmates leave the reader wondering about these incidents as only a backgroupd interest. These many red herrings add to the pleasure of reading this book.
Nancy and her newly acquired group of friends interact with typical teenage jealousy, chatter, noise, friendship, and adventures. The details are intricate, adding verisimilute to the setting in the 1950's as morals and values change.
The word "Character" describe the individuals in the book; each one is quirky in different ways. Each was sent to the "the best girl's school for their education." Each girl sees this separation from their parents in various thoughts, but most realize that they are simply the unwanted children of a social climbing, selfish group of parents.
The characters are rich and deep as they come-of-age. There are charming, well written vignettes throughout the story. Through the many experiences of girls away from home, there is laughter and tears.
Then we experience a startling climax to the strange things Nancy has seen throughout the story as the book concludes.
I still think about the girls, the events, the trauma, and hope Julie Bigg Veazey creates novels for each of the girls as they grow up. This is a powerful book.
I read it in one afternoon - just could not put it down.
Without doubt, this is a 5 star novel.
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
READ THIS BOOK Sep 19, 2006
By Louise B. Cushman
An enjoyable read! I could relate to many aspects of this story as I attended an "elite" private girl's school.I enjoyed all the characters, each very different though bonded through their hardships & experiences.A book you'll read in a day, wanting to know what happens next.Great for all ages (not children)!
5 of 5 found the following review helpful:
A Great Read! Sep 10, 2006
By hot climates
A compelling and very readable wrinting style that will keep your full attention throughout. An insightful look back at the fifties with: double standards, junk food, secrets, cigarettes and sexual repression, aggression and perversion. Nancy was a perfect fifties girl, she wanted to be loved by and to please everyone. She was a cheerleader, a student council member, from a wealthy family and a boyfriend destined for Yale. One moment of naïve passion changed her future. Her socially conscience mother reacted with utter horror at being so humiliated by her daughter. Nancy was forced to go to a home for unwed mothers to give her baby up for adoption and then packed off to a girl's boarding school in Connecticut to complete her senior year of high school. There she becomes one of the "corridor girls" a group of six girls living along the same corridor, most of whom had been sent to Winthrop Academy because their parents wanted to be free of them.
The story centers around three different emotionally charged girls, whose lives have been deeply affected by what their parents did to them. Nancy, whose self-esteem has been destroyed by her mother, Heather whose mother died and had been replaced by a new "mother" who in her mind was the women who stole her father's love from her and Jennifer who is overtly sexual following her father's philandering ways and is simply desperate to be loved.
The Winthrop Academy is riddled with intriguingly flawed people beginning with the head mistress who kept the hopelessly old fashioned school precisely as her great-grandmother had when she started the academy. She also has a suspect relationship with her female secretary. The bizarre staff includes a religious zealot who communes with God
in an unusual and physically stimulating manner, a sex starved English teacher and a draconian custodian who never utters a word.
Even with all these impediments the girls evolve into mature and understanding young women gaining strength through their own interactions. The book takes surprising twists and turns and keeps the reader guessing right to the very end.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A good read Oct 21, 2006
By Elizabeth Storm
Few would name the 50s as their favorite decade, but those who lived through it, especially if they happened to go to a straight-laced private boarding school, are likely to remember feeling conflict between the normal impulses of adolescence and the imposed manners and mores of a time reminiscent of the Victorian era.
Such is the case in Silent Cry, a novel that explores the concluding months in the senior year of a small group of girls "privileged" to attend Winthrop Academy, an elite all-girls' school in Connecticut.
Nancy Waldron enters in the middle of senior year, sent away by her family to avoid "disgrace." She meets a group of girls who are each struggling with their own inner demons. Intense bonds and conflicts develop, and Nancy experiences the first true friendship she has ever known.
Dramatic incidents propel the novel along unexpected lines, keeping the reader guessing until the very end. Julie Bigg Veazey demonstrates a keen eye for physical detail and psychological nuance in this first novel.
3 of 3 found the following review helpful:
A fantastic story!!! Oct 11, 2006
By Kyla Douglas
What a great and refreshing read! I loved the fast-paced energy of the story, the vibrance of the characters, the "feel" of the late 1950's. This would make a terrific movie!
See all 11 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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