A Modest Silence

A Modest Silence is an exotic tale with conflict, suspense, innocence, budding love, and determination amid chaos. Gaby, a young girl born to Sephardic Jews and raised in Egypt during the reign and subsequent abdication of King Farouk, meets Simon Mahoney, an American diplomat. They fall head-over-heels for one another. But Claude, a handsome and wealthy lad, is clearly her mother's preference. As revolution threatens and the Egyptian Army assumes power, Gaby's father is falsely accused of defaming the new regime and is confined indefinitely in a detention camp. A general exodus of all Europeans is imminent, presenting Gaby with painful decisions balancing parents, career, love, and religion. She receives three proposals of marriage, each demanding great sacrifice. What does all of this portend for her future? Will she overcome the strain of conflicting events? Sheila Coral Grimes was born and reared in the European quarter of Alexandria (Camp Cesar), Egypt. At age eighteen, she married a United States Foreign Service Officer. Ms. Grimes is fluent in seven languages, and as a Foreign Service spouse, served as diplomatic interpreter and French instructor in the USA and abroad. She is a professional concert pianist and has performed with orchestras internationally, notably at Salle Gaveau (Paris, France), and as a soloist in the USA. She founded the chamber music group Les Amis de Mozart in l984. She enjoys oil painting and writing and is a proud mother of three, grandmother of eight, and greatgrandmother of two. Currently, she enjoys retirement with her husband in Arlington, Virginia, and sill performs solo concerts in the Greater Washington, DC, area