The Wildes

In this singularly powerful novel, bestselling author Louis Bayard brings Oscar Wilde's wife Constance and two sons out from the shadows of history and creates a vivid and poignant story of secrets, loss, and love.

"Wonderfully researched, beautifully crafted, movingly told, The Wildes is a treasure to read."

-Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less and Less Is Lost

"The Wildes is a marvel of tenderness, irony, heartbreak, and reclamation that demonstrates why Bayard is among the most essential-and most entertaining-interrogators of the past."

-Anthony Marra, author of Mercury Pictures Presents and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena

In September of 1892, Oscar Wilde and his family have retreated to the idyllic Norfolk countryside for a holiday. His wife, Constance, has every reason to be happy: two beautiful sons, her own work as an advocate for feminist causes, and a delightfully charming and affectionate husband and father to her children, who also happens to be the most sought-after author in England. But with the arrival of an unexpected houseguest, the aristocratic young poet Lord Alfred Douglas, Constance gradually-and then all at once-comes to see that her husband's heart is elsewhere and that the growing intensity between the two men threatens the whole foundation of their lives.

The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts takes readers on the emotional journey of this family, moving from the Italian countryside, where Constance Wilde flees from the aftermath of Oscar's imprisonment for homosexuality, to the trenches of World War I and an underground bar in London's Soho, where Oscar's sons Cyril and Vyvyan must both grapple with their father's legacy. And in a brilliant feat of the imagination, act 5 reunites the entire cast in a surprising, poignant, and tremendously satisfying tableau.

With Louis Bayard's trademark sparkling dialogue and deep insight into the lives and longings of all his characters, The Wildes could almost have been created by Oscar Wilde himself. Lightly told but with hidden depths, it is an entertaining and dramatic story about the human condition.

New York Times Best Historical Fiction of 2024

Washington Post Notable Work of Fiction 2024

Library Journal Best Pop Fiction of 2024

PEOPLE Book of the Week

Highbrow Magazine Best Book of 2024

Named a Best/Most Anticipated Book of the Season by the New York Times, Washington Post, Oprah Daily, Parade, Kirkus Reviews, and Book Riot

"[A] bittersweet tragicomedy. Bayard turns the Wilde family's tragedy into an engrossing, eternally relevant fable of fame, scandal, and love."--Kirkus Reviews
"A wonderfully witty and often heartbreaking depiction of the consequences of Oscar Wilde's scandalous downfall -- not for the playwright himself, but rather his wife and two sons."--New York Times, Best Historical Fiction of 2024
"A wonderfully witty drawing-room drama that descends into something darker."--New York Times, Seasonal Historical Fiction Roundup
"Bayard's The Wildes provides readers with a unique re-envisioning into Wilde's past; it reminds us of his unique talent and passion for life, while giving Constance, Cyril, and Vyvyan a voice of their own."--Washington City Paper
"Bayard's immense gift for dialogue and nuanced portrayal of Constance will break readers' hearts."--Library Journal, Best Pop Fiction of 2024
"It's hard to imagine anyone doing this sort of imaginative historical reconstruction better than Bayard, who did it superbly once before in Jackie & Me. ...elegiac... . Readers will find it difficult to put down."--Library Journal
"Poignant. Bayard considers these themes through dialogue as crackling as any Wilde himself would write and unfolds the Wilde family's story with the same attention to conflict and resolution as Wilde's legendary plays."--Booklist
Praise for Jackie & Me:

"ABSOLUTELY IRRESISTIBLE."
--Kim Hubbard, People (Best Books of Summer 2022)

"What a pleasure . . . Bayard is such an exuberant storyteller . . . This stylish, sexy, nostalgic story will linger like Jackie's signature scent of Pall Malls and Chateau Krigler 12. It's a complicated bouquet of bitter and sweet."
--Elisabeth Egan, The New York Times Book Review

Praise for Courting Mr. Lincoln:

"He's extraordinarily gifted at blending provocative fiction with history. The details of [Mary Todd and Lincoln's] courtship are lovely to read, but Lincoln's time with Speed is much more riveting. At book's end, who's courting Lincoln remains an enticing mystery."
--The Washington Post

"...creative...The Wildes is illuminating and entertaining because it takes a refreshingly new angle on Oscar's fall. Bayard's novel offers a compelling vision of what happened, to Wilde and his family, when the laughter stopped."
--The Arts Fuse
"...empathetic...nuanced...The Wildes gently portrays a complicated man, the family he loved, and the man he loved with understanding and regret for the difficult choices forced upon them."--Washington Post
"The Wildes is eye-opening and heartbreaking and provides so much detail and surprise testimony in the form of historical fiction that it will make you reconsider what you thought you knew about Oscar Wilde. I cannot think of many authors outside of Louis Bayard who could capture so effectively his voice, quips and witticisms."--Bookreporter.com
"[An] inspired outing. Bayard's superior gifts at evoking the past are on full display, and he makes it easy for readers to sympathize with his characters. Historical fiction fans will love this poignant tale."--Publishers Weekly
"A witty, elegant tribute to Wilde's wit and style. ... [a] dazzling novel of heartbreak ... The Wildes is both a powerful family portrait and a verbal delight."--New York Journal of Books
"An exceedingly clever and moving story that imagines the lives of Oscar's wife, Constance, and their two sons -- figures who have been largely obscured, first by Oscar's ignominy and then by his fame."--Ron Charles, Washington Post Book Club
"Bayard employs the dialogue-rich, my-dear-boy style of writing one might expect from a faithful imagining of Oscar Wilde and the rest of that crowd, and it works well. Those who can't get enough of Wilde and his legacy will welcome this accomplished work."--Shelf Awareness
"Delicately masterful. Both slyly comic and achingly tender, [The Wildes] sets the readers within the context of an unexpectedly complicated and fascinating family."--Columbus Dispatch
"Enthralling... The Wildes, brimming with subtext, sets a high standard... sheer delight for readers. With no disregard for the novel's considerable literary merit, The Wildes is, above all else, splendidly entertaining."--Highbrow Magazine
"Imaginative ... Oscar Wilde's attractiveness and his flaws were equally outsize, and Mr. Bayard conveys them both admirably. The Wildes in fact constitutes a morality play that encompasses an alternate history, a contemplation of how we might live were we to imagine humanity's possibilities rather than give in to its limitations."--Wall Street Journal
"In classic Bayardian fashion, this historical fiction novel takes a cast of real people -- in this case, Oscar Wilde and his family -- and weaves them into an imaginative story."
--New York Times (Fall Preview)
"In this witty, poignant, and richly imagined 'novel in five acts, ' Louis Bayard takes us past the sordid scandal of Oscar Wilde and his nemesis-lover Bosie, the misbegotten libel trial that brought about Wilde's ruin, and an aftermath of 'dazzling martyrdom' in repressive Victorian England, to focus instead on Wilde's wife Constance and their sons Vyvyan and Cyril. The Wildes is a boldly audacious re-visioning of the martyrdom of Oscar Wilde, one which would have astonished Wilde himself."--Joyce Carol Oates, award-winning poet and novelist
"It requires a novelist of great audacity to dare to attempt to bring Oscar Wilde back to life, and it requires a novelist of great skill, to say nothing of wit, to manage the feat persuasively. Happily, Louis Bayard is both of those novelists. As if that were not enough, The Wildes also presents us with a portrait of Oscar's wife, Constance, that is little short of breathtaking in its vibrant depth, and a recounting of the heartbreaking tragedy of the Wildes that is eloquent and fully compassionate to all its characters, certainly to the Wildes' sons, Cyril and Vyvyan, and even to (almost astonishingly) that feckless instrument of destruction Lord Alfred Douglas. I read The Wildes in an improbable state of breathless suspense, so wonderfully well has Bayard presented us with real people pressing, often excruciatingly, toward fateful decisions. This is an intoxicatingly gorgeous novel."--Benjamin Dreyer, New York Times bestselling author of Dreyer's English
"Louis Bayard brings his singular historical imagination to this moving, multifaceted portrait of Oscar Wilde's family. The Wildes is a marvel of tenderness, irony, heartbreak, and reclamation that demonstrates why Bayard is among the most essential--and most entertaining--interrogators of the past."--Anthony Marra, author of Mercury Pictures Presents and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
"Louis Bayard has outdone himself with this brilliant novel. The Wildes combines the best of Bayard's trademark wit and charm with dialogue so sharp and masterful that Oscar Wilde himself could have written it. It transported me to a different time and made me laugh, gasp, and tear up. Bravo!"--Angie Kim, New York Times bestselling author of Happiness Falls
"Louis Bayard's latest is as engrossingly page-turning as readers have come to expect from one of Capitol Hill's most beloved writers... The Wildes is a must-read for fans of Wilde, historical fiction, and Bayard alike."--Hill Rag
"Naughty, witty, and scandalous as a Wilde play--Oscar must be blushing in his grave."--James Hannaham, author of Didn't Nobody Give a Shit What Happened to Carlotta
"Sad, funny, moving. The dialogue is so spiky and witty it would have made Oscar Wilde simmer with jealousy. Many of us know how Oscar's and his family's lives turn out, but such is the magic of Louis Bayard's writing that we read on, hoping against hope that this time, their fates will be less tragic. An extremely enjoyable and rewarding read."--Tan Twan Eng, Booker-nominated author of The House of Doors
"Spellbinding."--People (Book of the Week)
"Structured like a Wilde play, Bayard's work is sharply written and emotionally poignant, with an emotional core that feels timelier than many will likely expect."--Paste Magazine
"The novel gives its heart to [Constance]; she's a believable, loving, heartbroken character. In The Wildes, Bayard has built a story beyond the well-known tragedy."
--BookPage
"What was lost to history Louis Bayard has brilliantly brought to life: the wit, charm, tragedy and tenderness of Wilde's family. Wonderfully researched, beautifully crafted, movingly told, The Wildes is a treasure to read."--Andrew Sean Greer, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Less and Less Is Lost
"Wide-ranging, sharp-edged, and generous-hearted, Louis Bayard's reimagination of the story of Oscar Wilde brings his wife and sons into the spotlight, rescuing them from their historical position as peripheral characters and inviting us to see them for the first time, and through them, to see Wilde. I was drawn in, deeply entertained, and very moved."--Mark Harris, New York Times-bestselling author of Mike Nichols: A Life
"Wildly clever and wildly heartbreaking."--Oprah Daily
"Witty and heartbreaking ... One can rarely pronounce with confidence about the emotional veracity of historical fiction, but I'll say it anyway: Louis Bayard has gotten it right."--Marion Winik, Minneapolis Star-Tribune
"Witty and lively... [The Wildes] will make your heart break. This is unarguably one of Bayard's best novels and a must read."​--Historical Novels Review

Louis Bayard is the critically acclaimed bestselling author of nine historical novels, including Jackie & Me and The Pale Blue Eye, which was adapted into the global #1 Netflix release starring Christian Bale. His articles, reviews, and recaps have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Salon, and the Paris Review. His work has been translated into more than a dozen languages.

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