The silver screen

"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…