On Their Manor

Set at an elite liberal arts college in a Western Massachusetts university town, picaresque On Their Manor depicts the experiences throughout a mid-Aughts fall semester of Mick McNulty, an assertive working-class Londoner of Irish parentage, member of the soccer team. McNulty challenges breezy, underachieving teammates to whom soccer is, above all, a feature of suburban life, of hipster correctitude.

Prominent in the novel is the development of the friendship between McNulty and his roommate and teammate, Brendan Kelleher, a refined, mildly depressive New Englander who obsesses over the ironies of the new multiculturalism and the Irish-American experience.

Bold, often comical, far from another sanguine tribute to "The Beautiful Game," On Their Manor addresses the conflict surrounding soccer and the sport's role in the American culture war. Accounts of McNulty's interactions with teammates, opponents, officials, and observers, introduce readers to a concept of leadership born of uncompromising London swagger and Irish intensity.