THE STORY: Two sisters living together in a small southern town dream of touring Europe one day—but their plans are continually thwarted by the need to bail their ne’er-do-well brother out of a series of misfortunes. They are surprised then, and even oddly distressed, when the brother suddenly turns up with a large sum of money, enough to pay off the mortgage on the family homestead and to send his sisters on their grand tour. As it happens, however, the brother’s good fortune stems from a plot devised by the spiteful wife of a local millionaire, and when the brother’s wife discovers this, and jealously tells all, the scheme is shattered and the brother savagely beaten. In the end the sisters regain the dependence of their brother—but at a price far greater than they would have willingly chosen to pay.
This powerful and revealing drama builds steadily in tension as it probes into the intrigue and deceit which lie beneath the outwardly calm surface of a southern town.
“Brilliant. Lillian Hellman’s most hellishly hypnotic drama…a shock you can’t shed.” —New York World-Telegram & Sun.
“Head and shoulders above the level of the season.” —The New York Times.
