Billy Bowater
by E. C. Hanes
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Pub Date Sep 09 2014 | Archive Date Dec 12 2014
Description
William Walpole Bowater III has been told his whole life that his name will "build character and open doors." Everyone assumes that the heir apparent to the powerful eastern N.C. family will return home after college and take over his father's prestigious law firm as well as assume his father's position as political power broker. But Billy Bowater needs to create his own legacy.
When Billy finds himself working as the legislative assistant for Wiley Hoots, the senior senator from N.C., his life takes a different turn. We follow Billy as the senator's staff gears up for a tough reelection campaign against a popular former governor. As the senator's strategists try to assemble an effective campaign plan, a controversial art exhibit opens at the state university's art museum. Astutely, the senator and his staff let the Christian Crusade, a powerful television ministry, create the initial taxpayer indignation over the use of public money to help sponsor this show.
As Billy gets more involved with the backroom schemes, he begins to question what has happened to his moral compass. Billy's relationship with Lucy Sue Tribble, the best political reporter in the state, brings his crisis of conscience to a head. Has Billy been sacrificing his soul for the limelight he craves, or is the intrigue of borrowed power just too much for him to overcome?
A Note From the Publisher
Author is available for interviews, blog tours, autographed book giveaways, contents, and book club discussions.
Advance Praise
I have read Billy Bowater many times, and each time I recognize the character is sexy, smart, dumb, greedy, revengeful, and kind, just like human beings everywhere. Redge Hanes has captured the human truth and reminds us in this book that nothing human can be alien to any of us. We all know and recognize Billy Bowater, the character.
-Dr. Maya Angelou
“Redge Hanes is a deft writer with a keen knowledge of North Carolina politics. He tells what really happens inside Senate offices and campaign headquarters and at after-hours political watering holes. And he shows what can happen to people’s lives and reputations when ego, greed, and unbridled ambition collide in the full-contact world of politics.”
-Gary Pearce, political consultant and author of Jim Hunt: A Biography
“In North Carolina, politics is a profession for some, an obsession for many, and a mystery for many more. Many of our elected officials have become legends, and so have some of the journalists who struggled to explain them. What we’ve rarely seen is a work of fiction by a writer with the experience and insight to paint our political portrait on a larger canvas, rich with telling detail and an insider’s grasp of the playbook. This is a book Redge Hanes was born to write; the question “How can he know all this?” can be answered only by reading his biography. Billy Bowater isn’t exactly a roman à clef, but if readers find some of the characters familiar, that’s the author’s intention entirely. The protagonist, Billy Bowater, a man in search of truth and meaning in a world that deliberately obscures them, isn’t exactly a projection of the novelist either. But they’re close kin, from the same gene pool. There’s a great deal to learn and enjoy in this first novel, which any Tar Heel would be a pure fool to ignore.”
-Hal Crowther, author of Cathedrals of Kudzu and Gather at the River
“Billy Bowater is a captivating book to read, particularly if you are from North Carolina. While it is fictional, it has wonderful parallels with a fascinating time in the political life of North Carolina.”
-Frank Daniels Jr., former publisher of the News & Observer (Raleigh, NC)
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Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780895876331 |
| PRICE | $24.95 (USD) |
Featured Reviews
Sharon C, Librarian
I thought this was a delightful inside look into Southern politics. It's hard to believe that Wiley was able to accomplish his reelection by making a production of an NEA art show of "perverts," but I know people allow their pastors to "advise" them how to vote, so I can see why he chose the pastor to lead the protest charge. I get the pressure Billy was under from his family and in spite of his lack of spine, I liked him. The moralizing at the end was a little heavy but I was glad to see him be honest with himself. We know he can no longer work for Wiley but he gives no promises that he's going to be the cowboy in the white hat either. Entertaining.
Rachel M, Bookseller
I normally don't like when characters are extremists - as so many characters in this book were, I feel it makes for dull characterization and lazy writing - but when set against the backdrop of politics, it makes sense. The characters felt familiar to me. It was a coming of age story - and one I definitely enjoyed reading.
Jay W, Reviewer
An unforgettable view of a tormented soul floundering in considerations of ethics, love, identity and destiny, framed in all that is good and bad in religion and politics and their juncture. Despite so many of the characters being extremists, they are all too familiar and realistic. Whether it is artistic impression or political action, many ideas you have are examined and called into question. This book is worth reading not only for the story, but also for the thoughts it engenders.
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