In The Silver Screen, Maureen Howard conjures up the last days of silent movies in the story of Isabel Maher, who renounces the glamour of Hollywood and her talent. As Bel Murphy, wife and mother, she is confined to the drama of domestic life in Rhode Island, and plays it like a star.Bel's children struggle against the lives she has dealt them: Joe, a Jesuit priest, is unsuccessful in love and as a healer of souls; Rita, spinster and physical therapist, runs off with the love of her life, a gangster who turns state's evidence; and there is Gemma, an angry, ambitious girl who enters the Murphys' magic circle. All three are pilgrims struggling to discard the myths of the past for the comforts and sorrows of the present. Joe's journey takes him to the War of the Gospel in El Salvador; Rita's, to the Witness Protection Program; Gemma's, to problematic fame as a postmodern photographer. The flickering seductions and distortions of private lives play out against the novel's historical awareness.The Silver Screen is a family story of guilt, love, and forgiveness, an exploration of the claims of the past and of the passionate, though at times foolish, bid for freedom from scripted lives. Read Less