One of an author's goals at the beginning of a novel is to fully engage her reader. Select a passage from the first half of "Charming Billy" that you found particularly interesting and explain how you think it contributes to engaging the reader in the novel.
"She was from a place in County Wicklow, although she'd been over here since before the war. Since before Jonathan, the oldest boy, who was now stretched out under the umbrella with a magazine and an apple, was born. And of course, looking up at Jonathan on the blanket, they could not help but see the other girl too (although Billy saw her as a mirage of smeared color, pink legs and a dark suit, pink shoulders and arms and face, and a yellow cap like a low flame, a mirage that perhaps only wild hope and great imagination could form into a solid woman). 'That's Eva, my sister,' Mary said.'She's only visiting. She's on her way home.'"
This passage stood out to me as it provides a twist. Dennis and Billy have been sharing the beach with these women for two days and suddenly the reader discovers that the nanny on the sand is actually the woman that broke Billy's heart. We suddenly understand that we are experiencing Billy's first encounter with the girl from Ireland that toyed with his heart, something that his family thought affected him his whole life. It engages the reader as we see Billy's emerging love through his own eyes, although only we know what will be the outcome.
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