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In His Corner: Will the Real Billy Joe Please Stand

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The sleepy southern town of Overton did not forget or forgive young Billy Joe Bilingsley's transgression. Prosecuted as an adult, Billy Joe served time in prison for a simple, youthful mistake. He was branded a juvenile delinquent, and after serving his time returned to Overton only to realize he would never again fit in. Several years younger, Jane Moss never forgot the troubled young man.

Eleven years later Jane meets up with Billy Joe in Atlanta, knowing at once that they are soul mates. Despite the rumors of his criminal activity and attachment to the Dixie Mafia, Jane believes in Billy Joe's essential good. For a year he tries to protect her from the realities of his illicit activities. She determinedly denies the rumors, enjoying their time together shopping in exclusive stores, traveling to others states, or savoring fancy restaurants.

Lovers of southern literature will savor IN HIS CORNER. Author Joan Moore Lewis' mesmerizing voice captures the flavor of the sixties with a rich realism as she brings Atlanta in the sixties vividly to life. Moreover, she grapples with maintaining the belief in one's essential goodness no matter what. Jane purposefully blinds herself to Billy Joe's criminal behavior, yet her innocent faith in Billy Joe strikes the reader as believable as she determinedly reveals the truth of the Southern gentleman she loves. Billy Joe captures the reader's heart, proving that one wrong turn can forever determine one's life course, no matter the truth of one's character. IN HIS CORNER beautifully reflects the poignancy of the sixties song Ode to Billie Joe and the parallel, inevitable path of destruction. This entrancing novel of the south and soul mates comes very highly recommended.

We have all had that one relationship where we knew it was bad but refused to see it because it felt so good to be in love.

Joan Lewis allows us to revisit this experience with nostalgia and humor. We want to scream at Jane to get out before she gets hurt but know she wouldn't listen anyway - just as we wouldn't listen when we were told. At the same time, Joan's presentation of Billy Joe makes it easy to understand the tantalizing charm of the bad boy.

Readers will enjoy this one!

In His Corner
Will the Real Billy Joe Please Stand
By Joan Moore Lewis

This is a magnificent story about a very lovable young lady, Jane Moss, barely out of high school with innocence dripping from her every word and gesture as she ventures into real life. She is only a babe in the woods.

Jane grew up in Overton, a small southern town in central Georgia, in a very loving and caring family and community with many friends and a very caring but very strict father. Being the oldest child, this created a greater than normal desire for Jane to want to gain her freedom and independence to do it her way. She wanted to start her own life in the bright lights of Atlanta during the post World War II boom years of the mid 1960's. In Jane's case, this even turned into a "Damn it, stop me if you can attitude." Her confidence and drive is almost unbelievable for a young lady of her age in that day. This hurts Jane's father but he finally becomes reconciled, in his own way, to the fact Jane is a grown woman and there is nothing he can do to stop her.

Once in Atlanta, Jane very soon bumps into a slight acquaintance but older man, Billy Joe Billingsley, whom she had a small crush on in junior high school back in her hometown. This was just after Billy Joe returned from prison. Was this for a minor crime, or only a schoolboy prank that Billy Joe was sent up for? Jane doesn't really know or care to know, but she immediately falls blindly in love with this very cool, handsome, polished, very kind and tender man, in Jane's eyes. But, inside isn't he simply a mentally disturbed released convict, now a polished full blown con man, thief and mobster with a very strong need for Jane's affection? Is this need for affection only his desire to be forgiven by someone from his hometown? Does he really want Jane as his lover and some day for his wife? Or is his need only for her to act as a younger sister accepting and trusting him only because she is from his hometown? Jane is very intelligent, but is she so blinded by her love for Billy Joe that she only thinks that he is in love with her? He never shows his affection in this manner. In addition to his affection needs, is he actually using her as a cover for many of his wrong doings and can't admit this even to himself?

Here is where the brilliance of the talented author Joan Moore Lewis grabs her readers by their own conscience immediately with a direct challenge to the very inner core of their own morals by making them have to choose between right and wrong in forming an opinion about this strange friend of Jane's. She then holds their attention throughout the book, making them wonder if their opinion about Billy Joe was the one they really should have made. Some may even change their opinion several times during the read but they won't lose interest. They are hooked until the last word is read. In her clever way, the author lets Jane fulfill her desire for excitement and fine clothes by tagging along and flying to her dear Billy Joe on weekends at his every beck and call all over the southeast, eating in choice restaurants, staying in the best hotels, gambling at the strips in Biloxi and Las Vegas and meeting friends of Billy Joe's from prostitutes, pimps and mobsters to rich politicians and elected state officials. Billy Joe knows his way around. He knows his job and has been groomed and taught good taste and manners on high style living, which he gladly teaches Jane. Jane hangs on his every word. How will this all end?

This is a great read for everyone. The author presents the book in such a vivid manner that one can't help from wonder if this isn't a true story lived by the author instead of a novel. Then again, Joan Lewis's hometown of Fayetteville, Georgia was home for another great storyteller, Dr. Ferrol Sams. Might it be something in the water or was it transmitted through high school English teaches? If you remember, Dr. Sams wrote, "When all the World was Young," "Run with the Horsemen," "Whisper of the River" and others. No, it's not something in the water. Truth or fiction, it is simply the shining talent of this fine author Joan Moore Lewis breaking through the clouds to be seen again many times in the future.

This book is a must read for every parent and grandparent of a daughter or granddaughter and I suggest they get a copy for these young ladies to read before their graduations. It might save heartaches down the road.

A rare glimpse into the Dixie Mafia, and how a young, Georgia couple deal with the social restrictions and taboos of the 1960's. Funny and poignant.

In His Corner: Will the Real Billy Joe Please Stand
By Joan Moore Lewis

This is a wonderful story of two people, Billy Joe Billingsley and Jane Moss, who met by accident. Jane, young and innocent, immediately lost her heart to Billy Joe, an ex-con.

Joan Moore Lewis has weaved a well written story around the life of Billy Joe and Jane with all kinds of unsavory characters coming in and out of their lives. The people around Billy Joe refuse to forget the wrong he did when he was a teenager. Jane was the only exception. Solid as a rock in her belief in him, she proves love is blind when she chooses not to see the bad in Billy Joe.

The suspense builds as you wonder if Billy Joe will stay in the wrong crowd, namely the Dixie Mafia, or will his gentle side win out and take him down a straight path so he and Jane can finally allow themselves to fall in love.

The setting for this book is in and around the Atlanta area. As a former resident of Georgia, I saw many names and places pop out at me that I had long forgotten about. It is obvious that Ms. Lewis knows her way around Atlanta and the State of Georgia. Real names and real landmarks give realism to this story.

This gentle and intriguing romance/suspense story is one that romance lovers will savor. The sensitive romantics will find more than once that they will be shedding a tear over the concern Billy Joe and Jane Moss have for each other. You will find yourself pulling for them on every page.

I am a born romantic, and I loved it!

Reviewed by award-winning author, Bobby Ruble, author of Have No Mercy and co-author with wife, Kam, of Black Rosebud: Have No Mercy II.

IN HIS CORNER (Will the Real Billy Joe Please Stand)
By Joan Moore Lewis
ISBN: 0-595-19942-9 Paperback
Reviewed by Kristie Leigh Maguire, published author

IN HIS CORNER (Will the Real Billy Joe Please Stand) is the story of two young people from the same small town in Georgia who have much in common - and much that isn't. The setting for In His Corner is during the sixties, an era of change and unrest amongst the youthful population of the United States - even those in a small town in the South.

Jane Moss was a young naive Southern girl who yearned for a change, for something different from the small town life where everyone knew everyone else and made it their business to help them stay on the straight and narrow. Shortly after her high school graduation, Jane moved to the big city of Atlanta. Her life was filled with work, shopping and friends - and trying to pretend that she wasn't really the innocent little small town girl that everyone thought she was. Life for Jane in downtown Atlanta was exciting, much different than life in the little town of Overton. Then she literally bumped into Billy Joe Billingsley on the dance floor at Kitten's Korner on Peachtree Street - and her life changed forever.

Billy Joe Billingsley was considered a juvenile delinquent amongst the town folk of Overton, Georgia - despite the fact that his family was a prominent one in the area. He had fallen in with the wrong crowd and had gotten caught committing the "heinous crime" of stealing hubcaps. Since he had just turned eighteen, he was sent to prison. When he was released, he returned home but he just did not fit in anymore. He soon left for greener pastures.

Billy Joe was older than Jane and definitely not boyfriend material for such an innocent young girl - but try telling that to Jane. She had met her soul mate and nothing, not even her family disowning her, was going to stop her from seeing Billy Joe. Life with Billy Joe was filled with traveling from one place to another in the South. Jane suspected that something was just not right about the "distribution business" that Billy Joe was involved in but she closed her eyes to it and pretended everything was on the up and up. After all, they were in love and that made everything all right - didn't it?

Joan Moore Lewis has the true Southern knack for telling one heck of a story. She had me hooked from the moment that I read the prologue. Sometimes a writer hooks me from the first page, but it takes an exceptional writer to hook me from the prologue. A new Southern voice has emerged onto the writing scene in Joan Moore Lewis. In His Corner (Will the Real Billy Joe Please Stand) is Joan Moore Lewis' first published book. I hope that it is not her last.

Reviewed by Kristie Leigh Maguire, author of Emails from the Edge, co-author along with Mark Haeuser of No Lady and Her Tramp and contributor to Calliope's Mousepad: Women Writers Online.

In this first novel by Joan Lewis we have a glimpse of the South that we don't often get from modern literature - the truth. This story has none of the supernatural intrusions of Flannery O'Connor, none of the self-flagellation of William Faulkner, no apologies for slavery and the War Between the States, and none of the latter-day gothicism, weirdness, and racism that the reading public tends to demand in stories about the South. This is simply a story about a young man who is unable to live down a mistake he made in his youth; it could have happened anywhere.
The plot centers around the relationship between Billy Joe Billingsley and Jane Moss. Billy Joe was sentenced to prison at a rather young age. Upon his release he is unable to find acceptance in law-abiding society, so he supports himself by navigating his way through the so-called "Dixie Mafia" of the South, circa 1960's. Jane Moss is a 20-something Southern girl who grew up knowing about Billy Joe. When she accidentally bumps into him at a dance, it is practically love at first site. As their involvement with each other deepens, Jane has her suspicions about Billy Joe's possibly nefarious activities, but her affection for him forces her to choose to ignore her suspicions. Only when the FBI shows up in her life does she begin to rethink her relationship with Billy Joe.
The real draw of the the story is the way it grabs and holds the reader's sense of sympathy. Billy Joe Billingsley is a thoroughly likeable character; smart, gentlemanly, and humble. But he is, by necessity, involved in thoroughly unlikeable activities. When he does manage to land a "real job," we can almost forgive him when he decides to give it up. Jane Moss could anyboby's younger sister. Jane is a rather self-conscious, self-absorbed young lady, and the reader feels like her big brother or sister, wanting to scold her for her eager self-deception. In the early parts of the story we wonder if her affection for Billy Joe is the result of the glitz to which Billy Joe's lifestyle exposes her. The story is replete with descriptions of Atlanta, descriptions that are detailed but never boring. Residents of 1960's Atlanta will have a fond, nostalgic drive down Memory Lane while reading this book. What's more, the story can be safely read by ANYONE of any age, as there are NO sexual situations, NO violence, and only three words of very mild profanity. Ms. Lewis's style definitley compares favorably to Eudora Welty, in prose and in subject matter.
"In His Corner" is an intruiguing look at several societal dynamics. Though the story has no pretensions of being an epic, dramatic, earth-shattering exploration of the human condition, it is still a great little read. If we were outside observers of the relationship between Billy Joe and Jane, we would probably dismiss them as a couple of typically foolish kids in love. But, "In His Corner" does exactly what literature is supposed to do: it allows us to see the tense and interesting machinations that make "ordinary" life a truly remarkable thing. The shortest description I could give of the story is "completely believable, utterly intriguing." This book is a wonderful and impressive first offering of a new novelist. This reviewer highly recommends "In His Corner".

I'm gonna try real hard in this review not to repeat anything you can read elsewhere, and just tell you what I think.

This author has the ability to leave me wondering how much she made up and how much she simply remembered. I got the impression that she lived every word. And that, I think, is a hallmark of great writing.

The setting is Atlanta in the late Sixties, along with quite a few other Southern locations. I grew up in the South. As I met the characters in this novel, I thought, "Yeah, I know him. Yeah, I know her." But, there is a subtle undercurrent. Unsuspected secrets that, once I learned them, I thought, "Yeah. Of course!" As it says on the back cover, Dixie Mafia. Does such a thing even exist? I don't know. But as I learned all the dirty little secrets of the characters in this novel, I felt that every one was more than possible. It's an impressive debut, and I'm thrilled to hear the author is writing more.

Billy Joe, I think we all know. Sent to prison at age 18 for a crime he did commit, though perhaps prison wasn't the right solution. Never quite the same person when he returned. But still, deep down, a Southern gentleman and a nice guy despite the fact that he may be a criminal. Apparently our hero, if the book's title is our guide. We've seen him before and probably will again, but that's okay because we like him.

This book would NOT have worked without Jane, the female lead. If you prefer, we'll call her the heroine. If the author had made a single misstep with this character, her novel would have fallen flat on its face. But she did not, and that's why I enjoyed it so much. She is not you or me, but she's real. That's why the novel works.

The writing style is quite accessible. Straight, direct, to the point, easy to read with a minimum of effort. The writer does all the work so the reader doesn't have to. I've really learned to appreciate that.

Jane Moss may not have been around much, but Joan Lewis certainly has been around the South and Southern girls who fall in love with men who don't deserve them. Lewis also was obviously around and "paying attention to details," as Billy Joe advised Jane. She was exact in her portrayal of Jane's sewing and using Vogue patterns because they have more style and don't look homemade, of her naive acceptance of Billy Joe's long absences, and of her positive outlook on life. She wrote of the 1960's as I remember them. I particularly enjoyed the travelogues. I was reminded of the trip in Michael West's "Crazy Ladies" and of the journeys taken in Ann B. Ross's Miss Julia books. This is armchair travel at its best.I am delighted to have found a new voice in Southern literature. Watch out Jill McCorkle, Lee Smith, Clyde Edgerton, Terry Kay, and Ann Tyler. Here is a new adult book about the Dixie Mafia that is fun without being too sweet or too violent.