Charming Billy

At an Irish wake, friends and survivors of Billy Lynch recall his zeal for life, his alcoholic demise, and Eva, the great love of his life.

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Charming Billy is an award-winning novel set in the New York Irish community. It tells of the love of a man for a woman who dies, of how his cousin breaks the news to him and of how he never gets over it to his dying day.

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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.

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The late Billy Lynch's family & friends have gathered at a small bar. They have come to comfort his widow & to eulogize one of the last great romantics, trading tales of his famous humor, immense charm, & unfathomable sorrow