num_pages: 280
description: 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.
language: English
title: Charming Billy
titlecomplete: Charming Billy
characters: Billy (Charming Billy), Eva Hayes
genres: Fiction, Book Club, Contemporary, Ireland, Adult, Irish Literature, Historical Fiction, Literary Fiction, Literature, Novels
ratings_count: 10976
places: Ireland, The United States of America
awards: awardedAt: 883641600000
name: National Book Award
category: Fiction, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Orange Prize
category: Fiction Longlist, awardedAt: 915177600000
name: American Book Award, awardedAt: 946713600000
name: Dublin Literary Award
category: Shortlist
publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks