UK, and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière in France, and they have been included on best-of lists in the Washington Post, CrimeReads, and more. He currently lives in Oxford, Mississippi.
Here Boyle dreamcasts an adaptation of his new novel, Saint of the Narrows Street:
Saint of the Narrows Street opens on a hot summer night in August 1986, when main character Risa Franzone is pushed to the limit by her bad seed husband, Sav. She has an infant, Fabrizio, to take care of, and Sav has crossed one too many lines. Risa’s sister, Giulia, has also shown up looking for solace after a bad breakup, and Giulia tries to convince Risa to leave Sav. Things come to a boiling point in their sweltering apartment and eventually go sideways after Sav drunkenly storms in and assaults Giulia. Risa brains Sav with her cutlet pan, and he hits his head on the edge of a table on his way down. Not sure what to do, the sisters enlist the help of Christopher “Chooch” Gardini, who lives across the street and is Sav’s childhood friend, though he adores Risa and recognizes what Sav has become. What happens that night ripples out across the next three decades, and we drop in on these characters in moments of crisis in 1991, 1998, and 2004.Visit William Boyle's website.
It’s a difficult book to imagine a cast for because of the elements of time and aging. Fab goes from nine months old to eighteen years old over the course of the book, so I’m leaving him off. I can’t say I was thinking of specific actors as I was writing, but here are some folks I’d love to see in the three main roles:
Risa: Cristin Milioti
Chooch: John Magaro
Giulia: Victoria Pedretti
I can also see Ray Romano as Joey Sends, Susan Sarandon as Lola, and Patti LuPone as Vi. Maybe Michael Gandolfini could play Father Tim. Some of the other supporting roles are harder for me to imagine—most of the folks I can think of are probably too old for the parts.
After seeing the excellent Fresh Kills, I think Jennifer Esposito would be a great choice to direct. She really gets the era, and her film has a lot of the same thematic concerns as my book. I also think directors like Tyler Taormina (Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point) and Ricky D’Ambrose (The Cathedral) could do something really interesting with it.
My Book, The Movie: Gravesend and The Lonely Witness.
The Page 69 Test: Gravesend and The Lonely Witness.
The Page 69 Test: City of Margins.
My Book, The Movie: City of Margins.
Q&A with William Boyle.
The Page 69 Test: Shoot the Moonlight Out.
My Book, The Movie: Shoot the Moonlight Out.
Writers Read: William Boyle (December 2021).
The Page 69 Test: Saint of the Narrows Street.
--Marshal Zeringue