Billy Boy: A Novel

Shrake, Bud

ISBN 10: 0743224809 / ISBN 13: 9780743224802

Published by Simon & Schuster. New York., 2001

About this Item

NF/NF. First edition, first edition. Signed by author on title page. 235 pp. Seller Inventory # 14504

Bibliographic Details

Title: Billy Boy: A Novel

Publisher: Simon & Schuster. New York.

Publication Date: 2001

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Fine

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: 1st Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

Not since Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show has a novelist captured the poignant contradictions of young manhood in the American West the way Bud Shrake does in Billy Boy. There are tough times ahead for sixteen-year-old Billy. He's just come to Fort Worth with his father, Troy, after the death of his mother back in Albuquerque. Troy's drinking and gambling will leave them all but penniless, and he'll soon move on and abandon Billy in this strange town to fend for himself. With only a vague idea of how he's going to live, Billy heads over to Colonial Country Club, where he hopes he can get work as a caddie and where he just might see his hero, Ben Hogan. What he finds there, under the watchful eye of his guardian spirit, teaches him unforgettable lessons about golf, life, love and honor. Shrake skillfully weaves historical figures and his richly drawn characters into the fabric of the town and the tenor of the time. Billy must face down his fears and doubts, and he does so in a climactic confrontation that combines the yearnings of youth with the redemption of the spirit. Billy Boy is an unforgettable novel of coming of age in a time and a place filled with mythic echoes and frontier dreams.

Review:

Darrell Royal The same way a great golfer makes the game look easy, Bud Shrake has written a book that does everything for you but turn the pages. Reading this book is like watching a great movie that pulls you in and keeps you going until you are finished and wanting to live it again....For golfers this book is a pure joy. You've gotta read it!