Emotional History

The plot is simple. Even though he lived and died a soft-spoken, Keats-quoting drunk, everyone loved Billy Lynch.

"Charming Billy, " the surprise winner of the 1998 National Book Award that was released in paperback early this year, is the story of Billy Lynch's life.

We first learn about him when his friends and family gather at a Bronx restaurant after his funeral. The reader acts like a fly on the wall and overhears the off-handed comments made by the people that loved him. Little by little the plot is woven. We learn about Eva, the love of Billy's life; about Billy's cousin Dennis, who told a lie long ago that probably changed Billy's existence; and about Maeve, Billy's wife, who took care of him much as she took care of her own father.

As time flips back and forth it is easy to lose track of the characters, but McDermott, who tells the tale from a female narrator's perspective, takes care to write lovingly about all of Billy's friends.

Everyone has a place in this story. Everyone has a story to tell. For those reasons, "Charming Billy" is a novel you must read.

Alice McDermott, a Bethesda resident, recently was interviewed at a Friends of the Library function.

Dr. Allan Lefcowitz, artistic director of The Writer's Center in Bethesda, asked open-ended questions that allowed McDermott to expound on the fundamentals of her work.

She also spoke about how difficult it was to write "Charming Billy" in the first person and noted that it was important to create a female narrator who could present a balanced view of Billy.

McDermott said she feels women are the ones who most frequently hear, observe and keep the "emotional histories" in the family.

There is plenty of emotional history locked inside "Charming Billy." That history is well worth exploring.