“My Coney Island Baby is that rare thing, a tender straight-ahead love story which convinces thoroughly while steering clear of the fashionably dysfunctional and transgressive relationships that dominate so much contemporary fiction…Good books remind us of other good books, and in its treatment of adultery this one calls to mind thematic ancestors such as Madame Bovary, Anna Karenina and The Scarlett Letter.” - Times London
“Billy O’Callaghan writes with elegance and wisdom about a complex love situation… a subtle and deeply moving account of the relationship between a middle-aged couple…This is a fine novel, with elegance and wisdom lying beneath an unpretentious surface and O’Callaghan, a gifted writer, has managed to do that most difficult of things: take a quiet, almost everyday story, and transform it into a thing of beauty.” - Irish Times
“Compellingly readable…An impressive work…Through one day in a year’s long extramarital affair, an Irish writer looks at intimacy and estrangement… The prose [is] exceptional, elegiac and eloquent, in conveying insight and sympathy for the small cast’s two main players as they face an uncertain future…” - Kirkus Reviews starred review
“Twelve outstanding and often poignant stories from one of Ireland’s master storytellers… high quality, literary fiction.” - Fictionophile, at 746 Stories
“A shining example of how [short stories] can distil and intensify a writer’s gifts… These 12 stories confirm [O’Callaghan’s] delicate craftsmanship, unflashy narrative and descriptive skill, and his deep understanding of powerful and universal emotions… Breathtaking… Masterly… Irish writing has put out many new and more consciously modernist shoots in recent years, all welcome. But Billy O’Callaghan belongs now in the recognised front rank, along with Bernard MacLaverty, Edna O’Brien, William Trevor and Colm Tóibín.” - The Tablet (UK)
“The Boatman and Other Stories tears at the heartstrings of the reader with each story…An appreciation for life and love shines through…An excellent body of work to be enjoyed.” - San Francisco Book Review
“A welcome voice to the pantheon of new Irish writing.” - Edna O’Brien
“Billy O’Callaghan’s work is at once subtle and direct, warm and clear-eyed, and never less than beautifully written. He has a moving ability to express the hopes and fears of ‘ordinary’ people, and he knows intimately the ways of the world. He richly deserves a world-wide reputation. This writer is the real thing.” - John Banville
Praise for My Coney Island Baby: “An illicit meeting between long-term lovers makes for a poignant, piercing meditation on middle age and the passing of time…In the closing pages, O’Callaghan’s prose reaches a pitch of emotional intensity that ensures these characters will linger with you long after the book is closed.” - Guardian
“…deeply affecting stories…the collection's best pieces stay close to home and cleave close to the bone…Low-key, nuanced, moving—an impressive collection.” - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Love, bereavement, Paris in the rain give an unforced gravity and lyricism to these stories…which focus on the glimmer of heart in the hardness of life.” - Sunday Times (UK)
“This collection of taut, lyrical short stories explores the choices of characters at the limits of emotional and physical extremes… O'Callaghan's affection for the harsh landscape of Ireland is as strong as his knowledge of his flawed and emotionally driven characters, to the point that they seem to grow inevitably out of that misty, unforgiving place.” - Booklist