My father, he was Orange and me mother, she was Green. Oh, it is the biggest mix-up that you have ever seen. So goes the song.
Billy Boy lives this dilemma, caught between the Orange and the Green in "The most Catholic town in Scotland" where fights break out between the sects, especially when the men have been paid at the pit or the foundry. BILLY BOY is set in Whifflet, an industrial village in the Scottish Lowlands, near Glasgow. In 1865, a young Irish Catholic woman gives birth to Billy in the Old Monkland Poorhouse. Before she dies, she tells the priest that her son's father is the late William Maclure, a prominent Orangeman. Billy's Aunt Maggie saves him from the orphanage, raises him with kindness and teaches him tolerance, but he is pressured by the larger alienated society to make a choice between his two heritages. A hard life in the coal mine looms unless Billy follows his aunt's advice and goes to University, but Billy follows his heart, which leads him on the adventures of a lifetime.
Joyce Milne D'Auria was born and raised in Scotland. She graduated from Glasgow Royal Infirmary Nursing School then immigrated to the United States. After raising her daughter, Linda, she earned a Counselling degree at St. Lawrence University in New York and subsequently practiced as a therapist in Florida. Joyce lives in Florida with her husband Paul and two cats, Valentino and Caramella.
Other books by Joyce Milne D'Auria: Praise for My Blood is Royal available at www.createspace/3663804 and online as above.
"Magically transports you back to Scotland in the mid-19th century.....you get both the intricate story about the characters, as well as develop a keen understanding of what life was like in those times. I doubt this could have been written with so much fascinating detail unless the author actually grew up in Scotland - which she did!" - Dave from Florida.
"There is not a dull page in the book. I will be reading this again and again. The story is fantastic and loaded with history. Great book!" Mollie L. Bailey.
Lumpy Porridge and other Scottish Memories available from the author at: www.joycethescottishwritwer.com
About the Author: Joyce Milne D'Auria, born and raised in Scotland, graduated from Glasgow Royal Infirmary as a nurse. After completing a Master's degree in counseling from St. Lawrence University, Canton, New York she moved to Florida and conducted a private counseling practice in Clearwater. She has acted and sung in theater groups and sung solo and in church choirs. She enjoys living on the Gulf of Mexico, boating with her husband, Paul, butterfly gardening and walking. She travels often to research her Scottish historical novels and visit her far-flung family in the USA, Canada, Scotland and Australia.
