Mary Benson (campaigner) Mary Benson (campaigner) Mary Benson (8 December 1919 – 19 June 2000) was a South African civil rights campaigner and author. Born in 1919 in Pretoria, Benson served in the South African Women's Army during World War II. After the war, she was secretary to film director David Lean. Benson became acquainted with the author Alan Paton, and read his novel "Cry, the beloved country" (1948), whose main theme was racial discrimination in South Africa. This affected her greatly, and she became a campaigner for the rights of black people there. She worked with Michael Scott (who, in 1946, was
Cry to Heaven "The New York Times" called it a "dark, humid melodrama" and enjoyed the historical details and Tonio's "emotional development", although she wrote that the secondary characters were two-dimensional and superficial. Additionally, she stated that Rice's frequent foreshadowing and the clichéd and emotionally overwrought dialogue detracted from the novel's appeal. Writing for "The Los Angeles Times Book Review", Pat Hilton wrote that, excepting the conclusion, "Cry to Heaven" was "satisfying", and felt that its questions about masculinity were contemporary. Cry to Heaven Cry to Heaven is a novel by American author Anne Rice published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1982. Taking