About the book: 2007 / This novel is often called Nayo Marsh’s best book of the late period. This is far from a unanimous opinion among critics, but be that as it may, it is one of her most notable books, often mentioned in critical articles and notes about her work. Death on a Birthday is one of Miss Marsh’s outstanding “theatrical” novels, and not only because many of the characters are from the theatrical world. The presentation of the plot is quite scenic (the novel was later converted into a play). In reviews, references again appeared to Pirandello’s play “Six Characters in Search of an Author” and the great London success of Miss Marsh, and the most serious of them noted both the borrowings and the author’s discoveries in depicting the relationship between the behavior of the characters and the circumstances they hide. Roles, masks, rituals, the appearance and departure of characters, theatrical vocabulary - all this is carefully thought out and excellently presented.