"Netherland: the odyssey of two brothers crossing the world in search of an African soccer prodigy who might change their fortunes. Mark, a millennial technical writer who lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Sushila, and their toddler daughter, grew up a world apart from his much younger half-brother Geoff. Raised in the UK by the mother who deserted Mark when she divorced his dad and married a richer man, Geoff is now a fast-talking soccer agent, who pulls Mark across the ocean into a scheme to find an elusive prospect known only as "Godwin"--an African teenager Geoff believes will be the next Pele. All they have to go on is a video of Godwin; they don't even know which country it was shot in. Narrated in turns by the intellectually rigorous yet self-thwarting Mark, and Lakesha Williams, the conscientious leader of the writers' collective where he works, the novel becomes a twisty international adventure that is part heart-of-darkness and part American Main Street in the 2010s--deliciously far-flung geographically, ethically, and emotionally. Godwin immerses us in the hazy world of high-stakes soccer-recruiting and the beautiful game itself, weaving the search for Godwin together with the moving story of Mark's mixed-race family and Lakesha's surprising path into their lives."--
'O'Neill's storytelling here has an enthralling fireside quality ... A book to sink into, in other words, and one not to be missed' Guardian
'A meticulously constructed marvel ... Nobody else's fiction tears up the ground quite like O'Neill's profoundly introspective novels ... his stories are marvels of narrative magic and stylistic panache ... Like Godwin, this novelist is a player whose charges and feints will leave you amazed - and defeated' Washington Post
'Delightful, funny ... rapidly told in masterful prose' Financial Times
'Erudite, wide-roving, politically engaged' Telegraph
'O'Neill is to privileged white guys in crisis what Sally Rooney is to young intellectuals in love... A new and moving take on his usual tale of masculine doom, which gives this deceptively light comic novel a subtly profound undertow...it's all enjoyable' The Times
'Absorbing ... picaresque' Vogue
'Exciting and incisive ... This has all the velocity and swerve of an unstoppable free kick' Publishers Weekly
'Minute, hilariously observed, and poignant ... replete with laugh-out-loud observations, gorgeously turned phrases, and exhilarating dialogue ... 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
'A comedic hunt for raw footballing talent in Africa explores a new kind of colonialism' Guardian
'Populous, lively and intellectually challenging' New York Times Book Review
'I didn't want it to end ... You absolutely have to read this ... What an achievement. Among the best novels I've read in a long time' Bill Buford, author of Among the Thug
'An astonishing marathon of storytelling' Kirkus Reviews
'An exercise in realism by one of its finer contemporary disciples' Vulture
'A meticulously constructed marvel ... Nobody else's fiction tears up the ground quite like O'Neill's profoundly introspective novels ... his stories are marvels of narrative magic and stylistic panache ... Like Godwin, this novelist is a player whose charges and feints will leave you amazed - and defeated' Washington Post
'Delightful, funny ... rapidly told in masterful prose' Financial Times
'Erudite, wide-roving, politically engaged' Telegraph
'O'Neill is to privileged white guys in crisis what Sally Rooney is to young intellectuals in love... A new and moving take on his usual tale of masculine doom, which gives this deceptively light comic novel a subtly profound undertow...it's all enjoyable' The Times
'Absorbing ... picaresque' Vogue
'Exciting and incisive ... This has all the velocity and swerve of an unstoppable free kick' Publishers Weekly
'Minute, hilariously observed, and poignant ... replete with laugh-out-loud observations, gorgeously turned phrases, and exhilarating dialogue ... 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
'A comedic hunt for raw footballing talent in Africa explores a new kind of colonialism' Guardian
'Populous, lively and intellectually challenging' New York Times Book Review
'I didn't want it to end ... You absolutely have to read this ... What an achievement. Among the best novels I've read in a long time' Bill Buford, author of Among the Thug
'An astonishing marathon of storytelling' Kirkus Reviews
'An exercise in realism by one of its finer contemporary disciples' Vulture