Godwin
Published on 5. June 2025
Book
Paperback/Softback
288 pages
978-0-00-828408-4 (ISBN)
Description
'A fantastic novel, brilliantly crafted' MARCUS DU SAUTOY
'Enthralling ... not to be missed'
GUARDIAN
'A meticulously constructed marvel' WASHINGTON POST
'I wish there were more books like this' ELIF BATUMAN
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 football 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 football 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 football, 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.
'Among the best novels I've read in a long time' BILL BUFORD
'Delightful, funny ... rapidly told in masterful prose'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Moving ... enjoyable'
THE TIMES
'This has all the velocity and swerve of an unstoppable free kick'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Joseph O'Neill's novel Netherland was longlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize
'Enthralling ... not to be missed'
GUARDIAN
'A meticulously constructed marvel' WASHINGTON POST
'I wish there were more books like this' ELIF BATUMAN
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 football 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 football 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 football, 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.
'Among the best novels I've read in a long time' BILL BUFORD
'Delightful, funny ... rapidly told in masterful prose'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'Moving ... enjoyable'
THE TIMES
'This has all the velocity and swerve of an unstoppable free kick'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Joseph O'Neill's novel Netherland was longlisted for the 2008 Booker Prize
Reviews / Votes
'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
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
HarperCollins Publishers
Product notice
Unsewn / adhesive bound
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 132 mm
Thickness: 22 mm
Weight
199 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-00-828408-4 (9780008284084)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Person
Joseph O'Neill was born in Ireland and grew up in Mozambique, Iran, and the Netherlands. After working in England as a barrister, he moved to New York, where he lives with his family. His most recent novels, The Dog and Netherland, were longlisted for the Booker Prize. Netherland received the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Kerry Fiction Prize. Joseph O'Neill's short stories appear regularly in the New Yorker, and his nonfiction has been published in the Guardian, the Irish Times, and the New York Review of Books.