Named ‘One of the Best Books of the Year’ by Amazon.
Bill Hayes came to New York City with a one-way ticket, all of his belongings, and only the vaguest idea of how he would get by. But, at forty-eight years old, having spent decades in San Francisco, he wanted a change. Grieving over the recent death of his partner, Hayes discovered quickly that the city, however ruthless its reputation, can also be a profoundly consoling place.
Within the city’s incessant rhythms, Hayes found companionship in unlikely sources—in the tree branches framed by his apartment window, in the sight of the Empire State and Chrysler buildings against the night sky, and in New Yorkers themselves, those strangers who, striving side by side, sometimes turn to face one another. A lifelong insomniac, Hayes took to wandering the city at night with a camera, gazing up at skyscrapers, meandering through deserted parks, and having chance encounters with other sleepless city dwellers. And he fell in love again, against all expectations, with his friend and neighbor, Oliver Sacks.
The stories in Insomniac City are drawn together by Hayes’ generosity of spirit, and by his photographs of urbanites that find beauty even in the ordinary. Bookended by two painful losses in Hayes’ life, this memoir is both a meditation on grief and a celebration of ongoing life. It’s also a love song to the city—not just to New York, but to all cities, and to all who have felt the particular magic and solace they offer.
“A loving tribute to Sacks and to New York . . . Read just 50 pages, and you’ll see easily enough how Hayes is Sacks’s logical complement. Though possessed of different temperaments, both are alive to difference, variety, the possibilities of our rangy humanity; both are avid chroniclers of our species . . . Frank, beautiful, bewitching–[Hayes’s photographs] unmask their subjects’ best and truest selves.”
“Like Patti Smith’s haunting M Train, Hayes’ book weaves seemingly disparate threads of memory into a kind of sanctuary — a secret place where one can shake off the treasured relics of past lives and prepare to be reborn anew.”
“This touching memoir of the late neurologist Oliver Sacks, by a photographer and writer with whom he fell in love near the end of his life, turns a story of death into a celebration.”
“A beautifully written once-in-a-lifetime book, about love, about life, soul, and the wonderful loving genius Oliver Sacks, and New York, and laughter and all of creation.”
“Buy a box of tissues and pray for snow: This is the perfect weekend…read, and will have you alternately bawling and giddily clapping your hands for the lovers that may not have had the time they deserved, but certainly made the best with the time that they had.”
“Poetic and profound . . . What emerges from this dual love letter is a lyrical reminder that happiness and heartache are inseparably entwined. . . . Insomniac City is an ineffably splendid read in its entirety, a mighty packet of pure aliveness.”
“Breathtaking . . . It’s the kind of book that makes you stay up late without regret . . . Hayes’ precise and affectionate observations of his newly adopted city, its denizens, subways, bodegas, and landmarks allow the reader to experience it through fresh eyes.”
“Insomniac City is a beautiful memoir in which Oliver Sacks comes wonderfully to life–a double portrait that also provides a vivid picture of New York City’s neighborhoods and people. The ending is exquisitely wrought, heartrending and joyous.”
These and other photos on my website are available to purchase in limited edition, fine-art prints. See print ordering info here.
