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Godwin

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What to expect

The return of Joseph O’Neill, with a story on the scale of the international phenomenon Netherland: the odyssey of two brothers crossing the world in search of an African soccer prodigy who might change their fortunes.

Mark Wolfe, a brilliant if self-thwarting technical writer, lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Sushila, and their toddler daughter. His half-brother Geoff, born and raised in the UK, is a desperate young soccer agent. He pulls Mark across the ocean into a scheme to track down an elusive prospect known only as “Godwin” – an African teenager Geoff believes could be the next Messi.

Narrated in turn by Mark and his work colleague Lakesha Williams, the novel is both a tale of family and migration, and an international adventure story that implicates the brothers in the beauty and ugliness of soccer, the perils and promises of international business, and the dark history of transatlantic money-making.

As only he can do, Joseph O'Neill investigates the legacy of colonialism in the context of family love, global capitalism, and the dreaming individual.

Critics Review

  • “Exciting and incisive . . . As O’Neill artfully pairs the thrill of the hunt for Godwin with the complex politics of cooperative work, the driving force that connects the twinned narratives is the corruptive power of capitalism. This has all the velocity and swerve of an unstoppable free kick” Publishers Weekly

    ‘At once a minute, hilariously observed, and poignant workplace novel about Pittsburg, and a sweeping postcolonial picaresque novel about the grim fringes of the global soccer industry, replete with laugh-out-loud observations, gorgeously turned phrases, and exhilarating dialogue, pervaded by a winning sense of exasperated humanism. The whole time I was reading, I was thinking “I wish there were more books like this”‘ Elif Batuman, author of Either/Or

    ‘A fantastic novel, brilliantly crafted, using such a clever lens to explore the world of football … I loved it’ Marcus du Sautoy, author of Around the World in 80 Games

    ‘O’Neill has a gift for finding humor in emotional stress, and it shines … An astonishing marathon of storytelling . . . that highlights the avarice of sports recruitment and the legacy of colonialism . . . Another exceptional entry in the O’Neill corpus’ Kirkus Reviews

    Praise for Netherland:

    ‘A book that is so formidably written that it has you anxious to get back to it’ Sebastian Barry, author of Days Without End

    ‘Too good for the Booker’ Robert McCrum, Observer

    ‘So expertly woven that it is impossible for a reader not to admire what it essentially is – a beautifully written exploration of memory and self’ Sunday Telegraph

    ‘The wittiest, angriest, most exacting and most desolate work of fiction we’ve yet had about life in New York and London after the World Trade Centre fell’ New York Times

    ‘Extraordinary. O’Neill is a writer of dizzying elegance’ Finanical Times

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