'American storytelling at its era-spanning best . . . An immersive, multi-layered portrait of a marriage, Nathan Hill's follow-up to The Nix is a work of quiet genius.' – The Observer
'The incredible scope of this dazzlingly detailed state-of-the-nation satire almost defies description . . . Brilliant doesn't begin to describe it, but I'll say it anyway.' – Daily Mail
'I doubt I'll enjoy many books this year as much as Wellness.' – The Times
An Oprah's Book Club Pick.
A powerfully affecting novel about how we change, grow and age, Wellness is a story of marriage, middle age, our tech-obsessed health culture, and the bonds that keep people together.
When Jack and Elizabeth meet as college students in the 90s, the two quickly join forces and hold on tight, each eager to claim a place in Chicago's thriving underground art scene with an appreciative kindred spirit. Fast-forward twenty years to married life, and the no-longer-youthful dreamers are forced to face their demons, from unfulfilled career ambitions to painful childhood memories of their own dysfunctional families. In the process, Jack and Elizabeth must undertake separate, personal excavations, or risk losing the best thing in their lives: each other.
Moving from the gritty 90s Chicago art scene to a suburbia of detox diets and home renovation hysteria, Wellness mines the absurdities of modern technology and modern love to reveal profound, startling truths about intimacy and connection. In this follow-up to Nathan Hill's electric debut The Nix, Wellness reimagines the love story with healthy doses of insight, irony and heart. Nathan Hill's short fiction has appeared in many literary journals, including The Iowa Review, AGNI, The Gettysburg Review, and Fiction, which awarded him its annual Fiction Prize. A native Iowan, he lives with his wife in Naples, Florida. The story of a marriage, a city and a society over twenty years, Wellness is a major novel of our times, in the tradition of Jonathan Franzen and Elizabeth Strout
