Wellness
Nathan Hill's expansive 2023 novel follows Jack and Elizabeth, who fall in love as artistic young dreamers in the grungy Chicago of the early 1990s and then, twenty years later, find themselves middle-aged, married, raising a child, and quietly disenchanted. As they plan a new home and drift apart, Hill ranges widely across modern American obsessions: the placebo effect, social media algorithms, polyamory, self-help, MLM schemes, and the pursuit of wellness as a kind of secular faith. He digs into each character's family history to show how the past shapes the choices they make and the stories they tell themselves about love. Funny, generous, and intricately structured, the book blends sharp cultural satire with genuine tenderness toward its central couple. Following his bestselling debut The Nix, Hill confirmed his reputation as a writer of big ideas and intimate emotion.
What you might want to know about Wellness
The questions readers send us most often, answered without spoilers.
A couple who met as young bohemians in 1990s Chicago confront the disappointments and illusions of middle age, marriage, and the wellness culture around them.
No. Wellness is a separate, standalone novel. It is Hill's second book following his bestselling 2016 debut The Nix.
It follows a couple, Jack and Elizabeth, from their bohemian youth in 1990s Chicago into a disenchanted middle age, exploring marriage, family history, and modern wellness culture.
Wellness was written by Nathan Hill, published in 2023 by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.
Wellness is 696 pages in standard print editions, though page counts vary slightly between hardcover, paperback, and large-print formats.
At an average reading pace of about 250 words per minute, Wellness takes most readers 10 to 15 hours to finish.
Wellness is available in hardcover, paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats from Amazon, Bookshop.org, ThriftBooks, and most major bookstores.