As reviewed by New York Times best-selling author, Ellen Tanner Marsh

“Julie Bigg Veazey explores the ferment and contradictions of the 1950s at an elite boarding school. Like Muriel Spark’s masterpiece, The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, Veazey offers part social commentary, part moving character study, both urgent and tangible. Silent Cry signals the debut of a deft new talent.”                                                   

As reviewed by Kirkus Discoveries'  Eric Liebetrau

“An action-packed story about the trials of a privileged girlhood. Set in late 1950s Connecticut, Veazey’s debut explores the daily life of six high-schoolers at all-girl Winthrop Academy, New England’s most respected prep school. Akin to Mary McCarthy’s The Group, with a dash of Peyton Place, this spicy bildungsroman revolves around Nancy Walden, who is sent to Winthrop midway through her senior year as punishment… …. Not without a few unexpected twists, the fast-paced storyline gains momentum as it progresses…this boarding-school story is a page-turner.”

As reviewed by  Rebecca Rule in Sunday's Portsmouth Herald, Concord Monitor and Nashua Telegram   

“To me, Silent Cry reads like a time capsule. Fictional Winthrop Academy provides a boiling pot for this coming-of-age story, which reveals as much about the attitudes of the 1950s as it does about the way girls were then, and still are with each other during their tumultuous teens. Veazey’s novel steams ahead on small mysteries and large ones… fueled by secrets, obsessions and betrayals-which keeps the pages turning quickly. I was reminded of two other coming-of-age books by New Hampshire writers, both best sellers, both set in the 50s: Grace Metalious’s Peyton Place and Ruth Doan MacDougall’s The Cheerleader.” 

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Praise for  SILENT CRY  

“…a searing look back at an era of double standards and cloistered perversion... The story centers on three emotionally charged girls and the painful initiations of the adult world.  Silent Cry takes surprising twists and turns which keep the reader guessing to the very end.”                                           

--Cheryl Brown, Atlantic Book Club

 “Poignant, utterly convincing, Julie Bigg Veazey looks into the private world of prep school and privileged childhood in this suspenseful tale. The spicy, fast-paced storyline gains momentum as it hurls us toward a shocking finale.”  

--Robert Leigh Meek, Chemistry of Power

"Heart wrenching ... but the sweetness of trusting friendships, like sugar crystals left at the bottom of this afternoon's teacups, will linger, and make you cry."

--Susan Tremblay, Portland Stage Co.
 
 

"Silent Cry draws us into the exquisite anxieties of adolescence in this empathetic and sharply observant novel where the genuine characters are funny, strange and complex, spinning and weaving toward a conclusion with a macabre twist.”

--Sally Michener, Visual Artist

"It is a rare pleasure when a finely crafted novel also grips us and sweeps us forward with sheer storytelling power.  A delicious, voyeuristic, long look into the private world of a girls’ boarding school is amply rich fodder for a compelling tale, but Julie Bigg Veazey is equally adept at rendering quieter, individual drama.  Playful and poignant, dramatic and droll, Silent Cry rings with Veazey’s poet’s voice."   

                                                                                                                                 --Barbara DeWall, Arizona Review