Charming Billy

Alice McDermott, “Charming Billy”, Douglas McIntyre Ltd, 1998, 279 Pages Winner, National Book Award, 1998

This book offers particular interest to those that are (or have been) Catholic and Irish. If you understand “It’s not good to have too much of a good thing” and if you have relatives that were good-hearted drunks and if some relatives, much to the surprise of everyone, willed all or most of their wealth to the church, you will savor this book. Of this list of Irish bromides, Billy only involved himself in the drinking part—in fact, it killed him; other relatives accomplished the other parts of this list.

Billy Lynch had returned from WWII and fell deeply in love with an Irish girl, Eva, who was a visiting nanny. Shortly after meeting Billy, Eva said she had to return to Ireland; Billy vowed he would send her money so she could return and they could marry. Billy sent the money but soon was told by his cousin, Dennis, that Eva had died of pneumonia. All that knew Billy, blamed his life-long drinking on this tragedy. None but Dennis knew that Eva was alive and had married her boyfriend back in Ireland; Dennis had not had the heart to tell Billy the truth. Yet 20 years later Billy discovered the truth himself when he went to Ireland to visit her grave site. Neither Billy nor Dennis ever revealed to anyone else that Eva had not died and Billy was not upset with Dennis for the fabrication. All the relatives and acquaintances continued to blame Billy’s drinking on this lost love. Everyone loved Billy.

Most of the reflections, told by Dennis’s daughter,the narrator or the story, are asides at Billy’s funeral.