Wellness

With a heartbreaking and humorous novel about marriage, the sometimes perplexing search of health and happiness, and the stories that unite us, the New York Times best-selling author of The Nix is back. Wellness reimagines the love tale with a good helping of wisdom, irony, and heart. Set in a suburban world of detox diets and home-renovation mania, it is set against the gritty Chicago art scene of the 1990s.

"A hilarious and poignant look at a contemporary marriage that is astounding in its depth and closeness."—Brit Bennett, The Vanishing Half author

When Jack and Elizabeth first cross paths in the 1990s while attending college, they immediately hit it off and were close friends, each hoping to carve out a spot in Chicago's burgeoning underground art scene with a grateful kindred spirit. Twenty years later, they are married and facing not just the difficulties of parenthood but also cults posing as mindfulness support groups, Facebook feuds, polyamorous suitors, and something called Love Potion Number Nine.

Jack and Elizabeth find it difficult to identify one another for the first time, and the no longer-young idealists are forced to confront their inner demons, which range from sad childhood recollections of their own broken homes to unmet job dreams. Jack and Elizabeth have to do their own personal excavations during this process, or else they run the risk of losing the greatest thing in their lives: each other.