07/22/2024

In this inspired outing, Bayard (Jackie & Me) explores the effects of Oscar Wilde’s gay affair and 1895–1897 imprisonment on his family. The story begins in 1892 Norfolk, England, a period Bayard dubs “the before times,” where the Wildes have rented a house for the summer. Oscar’s lover, Lord Alfred Douglas, known as Bosie, arrives for an extended stay. Oscar’s wife, Constance, is initially oblivious to the true nature of his and Bosie’s friendship. Throughout her own relationship with Oscar, she has grown accustomed to him being the focus of others’ attention, but has remained convinced he only has eyes for her. That illusion evaporates as the two men spend increasing amounts of time together and she learns Oscar is giving Bosie money. After Bosie’s father puts a stop to the affair by accusing Oscar of being a “sodomite,” leading to his conviction for gross indecency, Constance attempts a fresh start in Italy. Later sections follow the couple’s elder son, Cyril, who fights in the trenches during WWI; and his brother, Vyvyan, who has an awkward reunion with Bosie in 1925. In a moving conclusion, Constance speculates on how she might have protected Oscar from the authorities back in 1892. 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. (Sept.)

bittersweet tragicomedy. Bayard turns the Wilde family’s tragedy into an engrossing, eternally relevant fable of fame, scandal, and love.”—Kirkus Reviews / Starred Review

"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

“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 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

"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

"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

“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

"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

“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

"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 *Starred Review

★ 2024-07-04
Bayard’s fictional vision of the Oscar Wilde scandal in 1890s England focuses on what the playwright’s choices, successes, and scandals cost innocent bystanders—particularly his family.

Fittingly, this bittersweet tragicomedy full of bad manners is structured like a Wilde play. The long first act, set on a Norfolk farm rented by the Wildes during the summer of 1892—three years before Oscar’s infamous court cases—focuses on Constance Wilde’s discovery of Oscar’s physical relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. Both Wildes skirt around what they know is happening with verbal wit, their spiritual intimacy and mutual affection as obvious as Oscar’s self-destructive passion for the charming narcissist, eternally boyish Alfred. Despite Oscar’s entreaties, the deeply hurt Constance departs Norfolk without him although the marriage limps along (a situation reminiscent of the Kennedy marriage in Bayard’sJackie & Me, 2022). The novel is concerned less with the historical facts of what happened next—Oscar’s failed libel suit against Alfred’s father and resulting incarceration for sodomy—than with the human fallout. The following acts concern Constance’s short, unhappy life after moving abroad to hide herself and her children from the ugly publicity, and then how each of the Wildes’ two sons, so intensely beloved in early childhood by both parents, ends up psychologically damaged in adulthood. Sexuality matters less in this telling than broader issues of sexual ethics, loyalty, and conformity. Oscar’s sexual orientation is less important than his selfishness, pride, weakness, and capacity for abiding love. As she grapples with her own sexual yearnings and sense of self-worth, Constance, an intellectual and supporter of women’s rights, is upset by Oscar’s loss of desire for her—their marriage began with mutual physical attraction—as much as by whom he desires instead. The truth is heartbreaking, but Bayard’s fifth act offers an implausible but satisfying solution Wilde himself might have written to send the audience home smiling.

Bayard turns the Wilde family’s tragedy into an engrossing, eternally relevant fable of fame, scandal, and love.