Includes 'Billy Phelan's Greatest Game', 'Ironweed', 'Very Old Bones'.
The 'Albany Cycle' is one of the greatest achievements in postwar American literature. The two volumes contain all of Kennedy's 'Albany Cycle' novels, which bubble and crack with the energy of Irish immigrants trying to take the main chance in the land of opportunity.
Francis Phelan is, alongside "Legs" Diamond, William Kennedy's greatest character. Ex-ball payer, latterly a bum, lush and hardcase, he is central to these three Albany novels: father to the pool shark Billy who struggles with his legacy of violence and self-glorification ('Billy Phelan's Greatest Game'); brother to artist Peter whose paintings explore the dark corner of his family history, including Francis's life ('Very Old Bones'); and anti-hero of Pulitzer Prize winning 'Ironweed', in which Phelan returns to Albany at the end of the Depression, roaming the familiar streets with his hobo pal Helen, trying to make peace with the ghosts of the past and present.
