An emotionally powerful book; it is organic, surprising, and edgy in a way that will appeal to male readers as well as female readers. It has the potential to be groundbreaking in its raw, honest portrayal of a just-barely-functioning family. Billy Lombardo is interested in the beauty of words. He is also a great observer of the world around him, and he is exquisite and precise in getting that world onto the page.
Billy Lombardo is the author of The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories, a Chicago Tribune “Best Fiction of 2005” selection. His novel Man With Two Arms is due from The Overlook Press in 2010.

How to Hold a Woman

Literature & Fiction

Lombardo, Billy

Contemporary

OV Books

He even turns the basement into an indoor stadium. Enthralled by possibility, Henry begins guiding every instance of Denny's behavior, ensuring that every action performed on one side is matched by an equal action on the other-whether it's throwing a ball, swinging a bat, brushing his teeth, coloring, and even wiping his ass. Denny quickly distinguishes himself from his peers, most conspicuously by his ability to throw perfectly with either arm, a feat virtually unheard of in baseball. But he also possesses a visionary gift that not even he understands. Denny becomes a superior athlete, skyrocketing through the minor leagues and into the majors where he experiences immediate success, breaking records held for decades. When a journalist, a former student of Henry's hungry for a national breakout story, exaggerates the teacher's obsession and exposes him to the world as a monster, all hell breaks loose and the pressures of media and celebrity threaten to disrupt the world that Henry and Denny have created. A baseball novel-and much more--The Man with Two Arms is a story of the ways in which we protect, betray, forgive, love, and shape each other as we attempt to find our way through life.

The Man with Two Arms: A Novel

United States

The Overlook Press

He even turns the basement into an indoor stadium. Danny quickly distinguishes himself from his peers, most conspicuously by his ability to throw perfectly with either arm-a feat virtually unheard of in baseball. But he also possesses a visionary gift that not even he understands. Danny becomes a superior athlete, skyrocketing through the minor leagues and into the majors where he experiences immediate success, breaking records held for decades. When a journalist, a former student of Henry's hungry for a national breakout story, exaggerates the teacher's obsession and exposes him to the world as a monster, all hell breaks loose and the pressures of media and celebrity threaten to disrupt the world that Henry and Danny have created. A baseball novel--and much more--The Man with Two Arms is a story of the ways in which we protect, betray, forgive, love, and shape each other as we attempt to find our way through life.

Fiction. "Lombardo gets everything right, from a sensitive boy's struggle to say and do the right thing in delicate situations to Chicago's impossible weather, as he celebrates the marvels of boyhood and everyday life"--Booklist. "THE LOGIC OF A ROSE is as rich and vital as Bridgeport, the blue-collar Chicago neighborhood in which these stories are set"--Stuart Dybek.

The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories

BkMk Press

Alan and Audrey Taylor are an ordinary married couple raising three children and coping with the demands of busy careers when the unthinkable happens: their eldest daughter, Isabel, on the verge of precocious womanhood, goes missing in the middle of the night. Thus begins this intimate portrait of a barely functioning family as Alan, Audrey and their two young sons are left to decipher the mysteries of how to go on living and loving--in the aftermath of violence and loss. A haunting, sometimes raw exploration of grief,Morning Will Come is also by turns humorous and sexy, exploring the bonds of brotherhood and the redemptive power of love. Originally published asHow to Hold a Woman by Dzanc Books in 2009, this revised edition is being published in 2020 by Tortoise Books as part of their New Chicago Classics series.

Morning Will Come (New Chicago Classics)

Literary

Tortoise Books

The C.A.P.E. Crusade is a refreshingly new take on the College Application Personal Essay, Billy Lombardo provides a balance of broad guidance and nitty-gritty tips to help young writers craft meaningful essays in response to what can feel like an impersonal process.\nWhether you’ve got a support team of dozens behind you, or you’re going at it completely on your own, this book will get you through every step of the process. The C.A.P.E. Crusade anticipates the mental blocks, myths, misconceptions, and missteps that college essayists face, while covering myriad topics not explored in other books on the college essay:\n• Myths, complaints, and challenges of the College Application Personal Essay 
• Characteristics of great personal essays 
• An inexhaustible list of essay topics 
• The C.A.P.E. idea-generation prompts 
• Getting Past the Reluctance to Reveal 
• Making Use of Team You 
• Peer editing as a teaching tool 
• Braiding together seemingly disconnected topics 
• Memory 
• Closing the gap between oral and written expression 
• Common (and flawed) approaches to the C.A.P.E.\nBilly comes at this subject with decades of experience as a teacher, as a scholar deeply immersed in literature and creative writing, and as an author published in every genre from articles, reviews, interviews, and essays, to poetry, flash fiction, nonfiction, short stories, novels, and plays. An award-winning writer, Billy has helped hundreds of students from around the world create successful College Application Personal Essays.

The C.A.P.E. Crusade: Your Guide to a Great College Application Personal Essay

Test Preparation

College & High School

Muse Literary

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lombardo, Billy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Lombardo, Billy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Lombardo, Billy. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

How to Hold a Woman

The Man with Two Arms: A Novel

The Man with Two Arms: A Novel

The Logic of a Rose: Chicago Stories

Morning Will Come (New Chicago Classics)

The C.A.P.E. Crusade: Your Guide to a Great College Application Personal Essay