Joseph O''Neill's Debut Novel

The debut novel from Joseph O''Neill, author of the Man Booker Prize longlisted and Richard & Judy pick, ‘Netherland’.

James Jones' Life

James Jones is slipping steadily through life. He has a steady job as a junior partner at a solicitor''s firm, a steady girlfriend and a steady mortgage. Nothing much is happening in Jones''s life but he really doesn''t mind – this is exactly the way he likes it.

Michael Donovan's Rise and Fall

Michael Donovan, meanwhile, is a star – a world-class international lawyer and advocate – he''s everything Jones wanted to be and isn''t. Jones was once Donovan''s pupil and, for a while, it looked like he too would make his name – but he left that high-powered world behind a long time ago, or so he thought.

The Turning Point

One day Jones reads in the paper that Donovan has collapsed in court – then, out of the blue, Donovan contacts him; he has a job he needs Jones to work on…

The Novel's Theme

Joseph O''Neill''s debut is wonderfully clever and comic novel – about ambitions and aspirations and the realities that they inevitably collide with.