Literary Fiction · WarmAfter Billy Lynch's funeral, relatives piece together his life and a lost love from conflicting stories
Charming Billy
At a funeral luncheon, the people who knew Billy try to agree on who he was
The novel begins at the luncheon after the funeral of Billy Lynch, a charming, gentle man in New York's Irish Catholic community who drank himself to death. The narrator, the grown daughter of Billy's cousin and closest friend, Dennis, listens as relatives and friends share memories of him. Their accounts do not always agree, and she tries to piece together a true picture. The mourners keep returning to Billy's romantic nature and to a love from his youth.
More about this book
Who
Billy Lynch, a man who drinks, and an unnamed narrator who is the daughter of his cousin Dennis.
World
New York's Irish Catholic community, from World War II to the late twentieth century.
What makes it different
It moves back and forth in time and passes among many voices, and the storytellers often disagree about Billy.
Feel
Wistful and warm. It won the 1998 National Book Award for Fiction.
Page count and cover shown for: Selected edition
Further reading
- Charming BillyWikipedia