Description

Book Synopsis

Winner of the National Book Award and a New York Times bestseller, Charming Billy is Alice McDermott's masterpiece (NPR).

In a small bar somewhere in the Bronx, a funeral party has gathered to honor Billy Lynch. Through the night, his friends and family will weave together the tale of a husband, lover, dreamer, and storyteller, but also that of a hopeless drunk whose immense charm was but a veil over a lifetime of secrets and all-consuming sorrow. As they comfort his widow, the gentle Maeve, they remember as well his first love, Eva, who died of pneumonia, and whose ghost haunted his marriage and drove him to the bottle. Who is truly responsible for Billy's life and death, and what does it mean to mythologize a friend's suffering?

Beautifully written and teeming with fine portraits of Irish-American life in New York, Charming Billy is Alice McDermott's masterful and beloved novel about how a community can pin its dreams to one man, and how g

Charming Billy

    Product form

    A Paperback / softback by Alice McDermott

    £16.20

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    RRP £18.00 – you save £1.80 (10%)

    Order before 4pm tomorrow for delivery by Wed 4 Nov 2026.

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      Book details

      Publisher Picador USA
      Published 4 April 2023
      ISBN-13 9781250881366
      978-1250881366
      ISBN-10 1250881366

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Winner of the National Book Award and a New York Times bestseller, Charming Billy is Alice McDermott's masterpiece (NPR).

      In a small bar somewhere in the Bronx, a funeral party has gathered to honor Billy Lynch. Through the night, his friends and family will weave together the tale of a husband, lover, dreamer, and storyteller, but also that of a hopeless drunk whose immense charm was but a veil over a lifetime of secrets and all-consuming sorrow. As they comfort his widow, the gentle Maeve, they remember as well his first love, Eva, who died of pneumonia, and whose ghost haunted his marriage and drove him to the bottle. Who is truly responsible for Billy's life and death, and what does it mean to mythologize a friend's suffering?

      Beautifully written and teeming with fine portraits of Irish-American life in New York, Charming Billy is Alice McDermott's masterful and beloved novel about how a community can pin its dreams to one man, and how g

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