1. Plot summary

2. Adaptations

3. References

4. Sources
    Internet  Books 

Billy Phelan's Greatest Game is a 1978 novel by William Kennedy. It is the second book in Kennedy's Albany Cycle.

Plot summary

The narrative is based on an actual event, the attempted 1933 kidnapping of John O'Connell Jr., the nephew of Daniel P. O'Connell.{{sfn|Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917-2000|page=125}}

In 1930s Albany, New York, Billy Phelan is a hustler at pool, card sharp, bowler, and occasional bookmaker.{{sfn|"The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan's Greatest Game"}} Martin Daugherty is a reporter, and the son of a famous writer now grown old.{{sfn|"The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan's Greatest Game"}} Phelan and Daugherty become involved in the events surrounding the kidnapping of the son of a corrupt Albany political boss.{{sfn|"The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan's Greatest Game"}}

The kidnapping is the central point of the story, but Kennedy also details the everyday lives of the characters inhabiting Albany's working class and poor neighborhoods.{{sfn|"The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan's Greatest Game"}} Some of the characters, including Billy Phelan's father Francis, appear in Ironweed, the third installment of the Albany Cycle.{{sfn|"The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan's Greatest Game"}}

Adaptations

In 2009, Audible.com produced an audio version of Billy Phelan's Greatest Game, narrated by Nick Sullivan, as part of its Modern Vanguard line of audiobooks.

References

Sources

Internet

• {{cite web |url=http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2012/07/book-you-have-to-read-billy-phelans.html |title=The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game |last=Pierce |first=J. Kingston |date=July 13, 2012 |website=The Rap Sheet |publisher=J. Kingston Pierce |location=Seattle, WA |ref={{sfnRef|"The Book You Have to Read: Billy Phelan’s Greatest Game"}}}}

Books

• {{cite book |last1=Fischer |first1=Heinz-D. |last2=Fischer |first2=Erika J. |date=2002 |title=Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917-2000 |url=https://books.google.de/books?id=-2o4Ywn4LJwC&pg=PA125 |location=Munich, Germany |publisher=K. G. Saur |isbn=978-3-598-30186-5 |ref={{sfnRef|Complete Biographical Encyclopedia of Pulitzer Prize Winners, 1917-2000}}}}

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