Editorial @ Amazon.ca
 
Going Down Swinging, Billie Livingston's debut novel, chronicles two turbulent years in the lives of Eileen Hoffman and her young daughter Grace. Eileen's habits of choice are booze, drugs, and bad, bad men, and she is eventually drawn into prostitution as a way to provide for Grace. "At least I don't give it away," she tells herself. "Attractive, intelligent, you knew a few tricks--you should have been showered with cash and prizes long before." Charlie, Eileen's 16-year-old daughter from a previous union, is out on her own, swirling in the cycle of abuse and poverty in which she was raised. When Eileen and Charlie's relationship disintegrates, Grace and her mother are left to fend for themselves, an Credit Livingston with avoiding black-and-white caricatures. She never descends into the maudlin, though the lack of tears doesn't mean the story is without emotional depth, just that Livingston's style is controlled. She allows you to experience the Hoffmans' troubles instead of rubbing your face in them. An excellent first novel. Billie Livingstone --Moe Berg