I would read anything Billy Coffey writes (cross-reference: reviews to his books here, here and here) sight unseen so I was more than a little bit thrilled to discover his newest book, Steal Away Home, is a baseball book.
It’s also so much more than a baseball book.
Coffey has a way of turning ordinary and familiar events and moments into a work of art. To call this only a baseball book would be an insult. It’s a story about a heart divided, dreams broken, love lost, and love found.
For most of his life, Owen Cross has loved two things: baseball and a girl named Micky Dullahan. He dreams of the day when he can pursue both at the same time–a quest that will leave him wanting in the end, if he continues to run from the truth.
Steal Away Home is structured around a baseball game between the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles that really happened on June 5, 2001. The story weaves back and forth between the innings as they occur and the past as it is remembered. It is a unique storytelling device, and as a baseball fan and a Billy Coffey fan, this is quite possibly the perfect book. (If you aren’t at least a casual baseball fan, maybe skip this one. While the themes in the book are universal, I’m not sure you’ll enjoy it as much if baseball is a foreign concept.)
Coffey’s books are full of mystery and longing and unanswered questions that still leave you feeling satisfied with the outcome.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the publisher. Opinions in this review are my honest-to-goodness thoughts.
Read some of the author’s thoughts about the subjects in the book here.