Ogygia - Paperback

Sportswriter John Denham is inflamed by an unshakeable obsession: Diego Maradona. Kindled during his coverage of the 1982 World Cup and continually stoked in the subsequent years, it reaches scorching proportions following Maradona's Herculean feats at the 1986 World Cup. Nearly two decades prior, Denham abandoned a playing career of his own in favor of the written word. He sacrificed family, friends, and a home in order to embrace a bohemian freedom which has complimented his personal ambition. The resulting journalistic eminence largely stems from audacious player profiles, including aging legends like George Best and Pelé. But Maradona is in his prime, and Denham believes a profile of the Argentine will be his magnum opus.

So in May 1987, on the cusp of SSC Napoli and Maradona's Serie A title, he travels to Naples after an old friend promises to arrange an interview with Maradona. What follows is the peak of a lifelong odyssey begun in The Hill neighborhood of St. Louis, and a trial which sees him contend with a raucous, hostile city, the Camorra, and the fruits of a career nurtured by ruthless sacrifice.