Charming Billy (Picador Modern Classics)

by Alice McDermott

5 of 5 stars 2 ratings • 2 reviews • 2 shelved
Book cover for Charming Billy

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The late Billy Lynch's family and friends gather at a small bar and grill in the Bronx to remember better times. His widow, Maeve, is there and everyone admires the way she is holding up, just as they always admired the way she cared for Billy after the alcohol had ruined him. But one cannot think of Billy without saying at some point, 'There was that girl'. On Long Island one summer years ago, Billy fell in love with a beautiful Irish girl working for a wealthy Park Avenue family. Billy wanted to marry Eva, but then she went back to Ireland. And then Billy's cousin Dennis had to break the terrible news: Eva had died of pneumonia. Billy never got over it. Anybody who knew him would tell you so. Billy began courting Maeve not long after, but for the rest of their lives, he, she and Dennis shared a hidden, twisted grief.
  • ISBN10 0747544336
  • ISBN13 9780747544333
  • Publish Date 19 August 1999 (first published 1 December 1997)
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 5 August 2009
  • Publish Country GB
  • Imprint Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
  • Format Hardcover
  • Pages 280
  • Language English