Netherland

A novel about a marriage, cricket and the aftermath of 9/11, Netherland is essentially the study of one man, set adrift in New York.

Market analyst Hans van den Broek and his lawyer wife, Rachel (whom he met and married in the UK) are living in New York with their young son when the Twin Towers are hit. Displaced and scared, Rachel, increasingly politicised, decides to move back to London, leaving a confused Hans to his own devices. Their marriage at breaking point, Hans is at a loss. By chance he stumbles across the scrappy immigrant cricket clubs that play wherever they can in New York's parks and, a player himself, he joins a club and is befriended by the fast talking “businessman” Chuck Ramkissoon.

Ramkissoon has a dream of building a proper cricket pitch and stadium in New York, of hosting international matches, of spreading the game of cricket through America. Hans falls into his orbit, joining him on mysterious car journeys, helping to mow the fledgling cricket pitch. But is Ramkissoon all he seems? Or does something darker, more violent lurk beneath the charm?

That is the mystery at the heart of Netherland, but that isn't all. This is also a very well written document of a marriage that falls apart and how two people reconnect across an ocean. O'Neill's prose is easy to read (although he seems to dislike short paragraphs with some running over a page length!) and his tale of the estranged couple is powerful and moving.

It's a good tale, well told and really, what more can you ask from a novel?