Godwin

Multi-award–winning O’Neill’s (Netherland) latest braids together two stories—one of a Pittsburgh writing collective and another of a search for a gifted teenage soccer player. A technical writer, Mark Wolfe works at the collective. He is restless, dreaming of making big money, as his work suffers; when Lakesha Williams, the group leader, receives a complaint about his work, she urges him to take a brief hiatus. At the same time, Mark’s half-brother Geoff, a self-proclaimed soccer agent, lures Mark to London with a wild get-rich-quick scheme. Assisted by seedy French talent scout Jean Lefebvre, Mark and Geoff embark on a fraught search for Godwin, a phenomenally talented, as-yet-undiscovered soccer player from “somewhere in Africa.” Mark plunges down this rabbit hole, learning about the shady deals in the soccer world, postcolonial politics, and the lengths people go to for power and money. Meanwhile, Lakesha manages the collective’s business, navigating workplace toxicity and small-minded squabbles. Karen Chilton and Kirby Heyborne narrate in alternating sections. Chilton gives voice to Lakesha, capturing her steady, single-minded pragmatism. Heyborne’s Mark is layered—bewildered, reflective, dissatisfied, and searching.