Billy Summers

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2021

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Summary

Background

Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapters 1-5

Chapters 6-10

Chapters 11-15

Chapters 16-20

Chapters 21-24

Character Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Important Quotes

Essay Topics

Background

Authorial Context: Stephen King

Content Warning: This section contains allusions to sexual assault and child abuse.

Stephen King (born in 1947) is an American author known primarily for horror, fantasy, and crime novels. He is highly prolific and the author of 64 novels, 5 books of nonfiction, and around 200 short stories. His books have been adapted into films and television series, including Stanley Kubrick’s film adaptation of The Shining (1980) and a Netflix version of Gerald’s Game (2017) directed by Mike Flanagan. He is the winner of numerous writing awards, including Bram Stoker Awards, World Fantasy Awards, and British Fantasy Society Awards. He was awarded the Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters in 2003 by the National Book Foundation. In 2004, he received the World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and in 2007 he was given the Grand Master Award from the Mystery Writers of America. He won a National Medal of Arts from the US National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to literature in 2015.

Historical Context: 2019

Billy Summers is set in 2019 and is colored by the political and social contexts of that year—in particular, that Donald Trump was president of the United States and that COVID-19 was on the horizon.