I thoroughly enjoyed reading your masterpiece, Billy Boy. A friend loaned me his copy of your autographed book, and it was so good I read it through twice before returning it. I just loved the whole story, how you began in the beginning of his sad life, how you clearly painted a realistic picture of the poverty, and the division between the Catholics and the Protestants, and explained the reality of their hard and nearly hopeless lives.
I am a “dog person”, and loved the story about Sash and how he grew up with Billy and eventually had his own job on the delivery cart. I could see he was going to die in the story; thank you for letting us down easy by only making mention of it, although it still brought me to tears as I felt his abandonment and loss of purpose in life.
Thank you for including important characters of the time like Andrew Carnegie and Jacob Riis, and for mentioning the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge, as that is my hometown, and it took many years and sacrificed lives to complete it. I never knew how important Jacob Riis was in promoting the interests of the poor immigrants, although I have been to the beach named in his honor many times.
I enjoyed Billy’s adventures, his ‘loads of bother’ and his young love. As I read through to later chapters I felt too many characters passed away, but then realized death is part of life, which only made the story more realistic. As I got to the final chapters, I couldn’t imagine how the story would end, and it was fantastic! It came full circle and had a very happy ending. You could finally see the real difference between Billy and Pat’s personal characters as a result of their upbringing, and the endless kindness and forgiveness of his cousins in Rannoch.
Joyce, you are a wonderful writer and storyteller and I just had to let you know your efforts and imagination are greatly appreciated by this reader. I also happen to be of Scottish decent by my paternal grandmother, and it brought me back to a time when her family immigrated to the United States. Thank you once again, and I want to say I think Billy Boy would make a very good movie that the whole family could enjoy.
Lisa S.
Fort Myers, Florida