The Ballad of Billy Bean [Paperback]

London, 1913. Fourteen-year-old Billy Bean is a thief. He’s also a talented street performer, and he’s picked up by Fred Karno’s music hall company, that features Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin leaves Karno for the movies, and Billy is sent to America to replace him. Billy also wants to work in movies, and soon he gets his lucky break. When his luck runs out and the movie career goes badly, he finds himself back on the streets, with nothing but his childhood skills and a cheeky grin to keep him from starvation."Lewis is an adept storyteller with a terrific ear and a palpable love for his characters." —David R. Roth, author ofThe Femme Fatale Hypothesis"I could hear Billy and Clara telling their fascinating story and I just had to keep reading right to the end." —Clare West, Joint Action for Herefordshire Libraries"Billy Bean's story is told, like a ballad, via compelling snapshots from his colorful life. Readers will root for this scrappy hero doing whatever it takes to come up in life--even when he doesn't deserve it." —David Michael Slater, author,SparksIan Lewis is lucky enough to have travelled the world writing and directing documentary films for television, some of which have won awards. Additionally, he has written episodes of the children’s animation series, “Mona the Vampire”, two feature films, which he also directed, five previous books for children and adults, and many feature articles for print and online publications. He divides his time between rural Herefordshire in England and Vienna, Austria. Visit him on www.storymachine.co.uk.EXPLORES LONDON AND CALIFORNIA IN THE EARLY 1900s: Set in the early 1900s, the book explores America during the Golden Age of film.GREAT HOOK: The book has a great hook, with the cameo of Charlie Chaplin, who sets the stage for Billy Bean to make his mark.FILM AND STAGE FANS WILL BE THRILLED: London's music halls and thel“Ý