Nathan Hill presents WELLNESS; in conversation with Matthew Batt

We’re delighted to welcome Nathan Hill back to Content for a reading from his latest novel, WELLNESS. He’ll be in conversation with author Matthew Batt. You can join us in-store or on Facebook Live.

The New York Times best-selling author of THE NIX is back with a poignant and witty novel about marriage, the often baffling pursuit of health and happiness, and the stories that bind us together. From the gritty ’90s Chicago art scene to a suburbia of detox diets and home-renovation hysteria, WELLNESS reimagines the love story with a healthy dose of insight, irony, and heart.

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 alongside the challenges of parenting, they encounter cults disguised as mindfulness support groups, polyamorous would-be suitors, Facebook wars, and something called Love Potion Number Nine.

For the first time, Jack and Elizabeth struggle to recognize each other, 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.

Nathan Hill’s best-selling debut novel, THE NIX, was named the number one book of 2016 by Entertainment Weekly and one of the year’s best books by The New York Times, The Washington Post, NPR, Slate, and many others. It was the winner of the Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction from the Los Angeles Times and was published worldwide in more than two dozen languages. A native Iowan, Hill lives with his wife in Naples, Florida.
(Author photo: © Michael Lionstar)

Matthew Batt is the author of the books Sugarhouse and, forthcoming in October, The Last Supper Club. His work has been featured in the New York Times, Outside Magazine, Tin House and elsewhere. The recipient of awards from the NEA, the Aspen Writer’s Foundation and the McKnight Foundation, he teaches creative writing at the University of Saint Thomas.