My Coney Island Baby by Billy O'Callaghan was a did not finish for me. Thank you for the opportunity.

An amazing novel! The characters are well-drawn and truly pull at your heart strings. I couldn't put the book down till I reached the final chapter. Highly recommended.

A narrative about deep illicit love and their lives either side of their relationship with their respective spouses, My Coney Island Baby is a emotively written story about Michael and Cailtin and their profound love for one another in deceitful circumstances. O'Callaghan is a magical writer. He writes with such poetic lyricism and a deep sense of compassion and yearning, that it's hard to feel any sense of contempt for his characters who have shared an adulterous relationship for the past twenty five years. You understand through his use of prose how deeply in love these two people are even though married to others, and it's difficult to condone their relationship when O'Callaghan hands you beautiful tools to see them through such empathetic eyes. He presents you with an awareness and perspective that perhaps you'd have neglected to consider up until now.

As beautifully written as it was, unfortunately I also found my attention span dwindled throughout the book as the pace was leisurely and sometimes slightly dull. It didn't take away from the breathtaking scope of the story, but it made reading more effort than I would care to admit.

My Coney Island Baby by Billy O'Callaghan begins with Michael and Caitlin on their way to an off-season hotel on Coney Island for their monthly rendez-vous, something they have been committed to for the past twenty-five years. Michael and Caitlin are married but not to each other. As a winter storm approaches, the couple must decide whether to continue their affair or leave each other forever. Michael's wife is seriously ill with cancer and Caitlin's husband may be transferred to the Midwest. As each chapter unfolds, we get to know each lover, from their youth through to their married years. These are interspersed with chapters about Michael and Caitlin in their present-day hotel room. I have read several reviews that objected to the adultery but it is not for me to judge. This is a heart-breaking story told with achingly beautiful and sensitive prose. Reading was pure pleasure. This is the second Billy O'Callaghan novel that I have read and I am a fan for life. Thank you to Harper Collins Publishers and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for an honest review.

A slim but entirely satisfying novel of two people who have had a long, secret relationship that's about to change. Caitlin and Michael met by chance 25 years ago- he was mourning the loss of his son and she was there at the bar. They've met once a month since. Don't judge them, understand that this is an unusual and special bond that's about to hit a speed bump. Michael's wife has a serious cancer and Caitlin's husband has received a job offer that will force a move. How do they cope with this? Beautiful language, imagery, and a simmering plot made this a good read. Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. This is a mature love story and a well done one.

Coney Island is their place.
“The best may have been lost but an air of romance remains”.

Caitlin and Michael, both in their 40s... aware of aging ... have been meeting every Tuesday, once a month for twenty years.
They are both married to other people.

Michael’s wife, Barb, is scheduled for 55 cycles of chemo therapy. Words like aggressive, and metastasis are not encouraging.

Years ago, Michael and Barb lost their 14-week old baby boy named James Matthew. Their loss was so devastating- it changed their relationship in ways it never returned...each dealing with their loss differently. Michael turned to bodily muscle work. Later he hit the sport bars. It was at one of these places where he met Caitlin. She was just 22 when they first met and already married.
As for, Barb....the loss of their child manifested itself in small violent explosions.
When she was like that, all Michael could do was hold back and try to ride it out.

We get a background story of Caitlin... allowing us to think of why she entered the affair with Michael, too.
And more details about Michael’s growing years.

Now in their forties, Michael is aware that life has shifted from thrills to comforts. Caitlin was once his thrill... and now his comfort.

Michael and Caitlin stand a while, just gazing at the ocean, holding hands.
They are sheltering themselves from a storm. And for a moment they believe that the world has been made to exist entirely for their benefit, and that nothing else matters beyond their happiness.

Coney Island feels done for. Every stall and pitch is shut down. Even during high season, the place only ever runs at half speed any more. A rot has set in. Yet their place still feels good. It’s even fitting for the broken things that are happening in their own individual lives.

Winds were blowing muddy with a threat of snow. The boardwalk, with memories of cotton candy, fire eating unicyclists, fried food, sweet and salty smells in the air, and the screams of teenage boys roughhousing bikini-clad girls don’t feel like that many years ago.

Caitlin knows that their day ahead holds darkness. There are things that need discussing between she and Michael.

I don’t want to spoil the rest of the story other than end with this one quote.

“It’s natural, of course, to reminisce, especially as a heart settles into middle-age, and regret is a flavour
familiar to anyone who is ever fled one life in the chase for another”.

I really enjoyed this book.
It allowed me to think about those that cheat, lie, and deceive and how their actions cause pain to others.
.... I definitely don’t condone cheaters....
but....
this book delivers on its pure humanity.

I reflected on why this couple did what they did .. my judgements at arms length.

The writing was gorgeous and intimate, capturing a very internal world. The realism is beautifully rendered, examining broken hearts and the impact that it has.

Thank you HarperCollins publishing, Netgalley, and Billy O’Callaghan

Thank you to netgalley and the publisher and author for providing me with the ARC for my unbiased review

not my usual read, and i had to think twice as why i would want to read a story about people having an affair but wow what a story, a truly beautiful tale and look at the years these lovers have spent together meeting only once a month

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. Billy O’Callaghan’s book follows Michael and Caitlin, who have been meeting once a month in Coney Island despite both being married to other people. They have been meeting this way for decades. As you read, you see how these meetings between them began and why they continue. At the forefront of the novel their meetings are threatened by the illness of Michael’s wife and by a work-related move of Caitlin’s husband. I think it’s easy to read a book of this nature and immediately judge the characters. In general, I’ve noticed that if someone doesn’t like a character, they often dislike the book as well. If that judgement were to happen here, the reader would be missing so much. This book is beautifully written. I have never been to Coney Island yet it is so vivid in my mind after reading this story. At times I read this book purposely slow because I didn’t want it to end. This story explores the depth of the human heart and its radiance, even admidst all of its sorrow. O’Callaghan portrayed Michael and Caitlin at different points in their life, as they aged and how they perceived each other at these various times. It never felt like he glossed over or made this situation feel like it was perfect. If anything, this story featured the faults as well as the beauty of real life.

’And so it goes, and so it goes
And you’re the only one who knows’
--And So It Goes, Billy Joel, Songwriters: Billy Joel


”The air out here is mean with cold. It was bitter on the journey out from Manhattan too, but nothing like this. This is bleakness without respite. “

So begins O’Callaghan’s My Coney Island Baby which shares the lives of a couple in their middle years who have been secretly meeting for twenty-some years, once a month in a room with ”a bed rented by the hour.” Between conversations and shared thoughts we begin to learn more of their story as a couple, and their stories as individuals married to others.

”Out here, sheltering from a storm, it is almost possible to believe that the world has been made to exist entirely for their benefit, and that nothing else matters beyond their happiness.”

You might think this is a story about this ongoing affair, but there is much more to this than just this one day spent together. There is the realization that they are no longer “young,” yet they are wedded to the lives they created in their early twenties. As they notice the ways their bodies have changed since those early days when they were filled with the sureness of their vision for their future, they see how their lives have changed, as well. Gone is the passion that ruled their younger years, lost in part to the disappearance of so many choices they thought would wait for them.

”Time makes us afraid. Maybe it’s just that we pick up so many anchors along the way.”

This seems to be the only means they have to cling to the belief that someone sees them for who they are, or who they believe themselves to be, and yet, there seem to be little regrets for the time they have not spent together. It is understood, unsaid, that these days that have shown them the only sense of being really known and understood are held as prized moments.

”The room, he decides, will be sufficient for their needs, but only because they have carried love in here with them, in them.”

Both have news to share, but time passes, and other thoughts are shared, or observed. There is a sense of calm that permeates the narrative, sharing their affecting stories in quietly thoughtful moments. Thoughts that cover the years that they’ve known each other, their separate lives, and their respective spouses, the bruises inflicted by life, and the ever present ticking of the clock.

”So fit for broken things, it has become their place.”

Billy O’Callaghan’s writing is subtle but sublime, graceful, and emanates an aura of discernment and sensitivity.



Pub Date: 09 Apr 2019

Many thanks for the ARC provided by Harper Collins Publishers / Harper

Two middle-aged lovers brave the deserted, wintry boardwalk of Coney Island. The wind is howling. A snowstorm has been forecast. Michael and Caitlin walk hand in hand to a seedy hotel for their once monthly day of emotional and physical sharing. They have done so for twenty-five years. It started with a chance meeting at a bar. Michael was reeling from the death of his fourteen week old son. His wife, Barbara was "entrenched" in a state of isolation while Michael worked two jobs trying not to "feel". Caitlin thought that her husband, Thomas considered her to be "...another bullet point on a long list, and never a priority". Both Michael and Caitlin got married in their twenties but found, what was seemingly true love, outside of marriage.

"It is almost possible to believe that the world has been made to exist entirely for their benefit, and that nothing else matters beyond their happiness". For twenty-five years, Michael and Caitlin have cherished their "couple time", sharing their most intimate memories, hopes and dreams. In Coney Island, they are far from hearth and home. They can stand gazing at the Atlantic Ocean but Barbara, a "ghostly presence...has existed along the periphery". Thomas has as well. As for Michael and Caitlin, "Time makes us afraid...we pick up so many anchors along the way". What does the future hold in store for them?

Michael and Caitlin seemed very much in love. In their twenties, their clandestine trysts were risk taking ventures. Now, well into his forties, "He watches her...and, feels himself falling for her all over again". On Caitlin's part, his now overweight frame is of no consequence. She "...savours the details of who he is..."

"My Coney Island Baby" by Billy O'Callaghan is a sensitive portrayal of middle-aged love. Michael and Caitlin were flawed individuals who accepted each other's imperfections. They were imprisoned in their marriages but arguably prisoners within the confines of their hotel room. They never had a chance to fly.

Thank you HarperCollins Publishers and Net Galley for the opportunity to read and review "My Coney Island Baby".

This is a poignant story about two lovers, both of whom are married to others, who share a bond that is sustained by spending one day together each month. While one might hear the premise of this book and think "gosh, why would I want to read a book about two people having an affair", an arguably "immoral" act, this book is much more. It's a deeper look at marriage, aging, and the choices we make and is actually, a beautiful and gut-wrenching love story. Not for everyone, since it doesn't have much action, but it's a quiet character-driven story that is beautifully written.