Book cover of Billy Phelan's Greatest Game

Book description

The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Ironweed explores the seedy underbelly of a Depression-era town in the second novel in the Albany cycle

Billy Phelan, a slightly tarnished poker player, pool hustler, and small-time bookie, moves throuh the lurid nighttime glare of Albany, New York. A resourceful man full of Irish…

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Why read it?

1 author picked Billy Phelan's Greatest Game as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Forget about "Ironweed," this is Kennedy's best book: Nothing short of a literary miracle, a contender for The Great American novel.

All the titular games, including the central kidnapping, drive the narrative, but this book is really about fathers and sons, guilt and expiation: very Irish, very Catholic, very on the hustle, very tough guy. The wordplay is often delicious, as is the laugh out loud humor.

As close to a forgotten masterpiece as you'll ever find.

If you love Billy Phelan's Greatest Game...

Book cover of These Blue Mountains

These Blue Mountains by Sarah Loudin Thomas,

A moving story of love, betrayal, and the enduring power of hope in the face of darkness.

German pianist Hedda Schlagel's world collapsed when her fiancé, Fritz, vanished after being sent to an enemy alien camp in the United States during the Great War. Fifteen years later, in 1932, Hedda…

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Separating the true stories from the myths, The Duty of Memory provides a deeper understanding of the diverse motivations that drove ordinary people to join an underground network of French Resistants despite terrible odds and horrifying consequences.

This book takes the reader inside the true story of men and women…