SOURCE: "Flowing Fast and True from Vietnam," in The Observer, February 6, 1994, p. 18.

[In the following essay, based on an interview with French, Gerrard explores how the author's Vietnam War experiences shaped Billy.]

Once upon a time in America, an 11-year-old black boy was sent to the electric chair. His name is not remembered; records have been lost: it was a long time ago, before the war. Fifty years later, a sad man in search of a life was flicking TV channels and came across a panel discussing capital punishment, in which they mentioned the boy. His attention was caught, and four years later he started to write a book that would bring that little boy back to life, and send him to his death all over again.

Billy has taken America by storm. The tale of 10-year-old Billy Lee Turner, a black boy convicted of the murder of...