Author Event: Louis Bayard with John Copenhaver | THE WILDES

Join us at Bards Alley for a discussion with acclaimed author Louis Bayard to celebrate the paperback release of his most recent novel The Wildes: A Novel in Five Acts which brings Oscar Wilde's wife Constance to the forefront to create a vivid, poignant story of love, loss, and secrets. He will be in conversation with author and professor John Copenhaver (Hall of Mirrors).

The event will take place at Bards Alley Bookshop in Vienna, VA on Friday, August 15th at 6:00PM. You may reserve a book under your name as an add-on, but additional copies will be available for purchase during the event, and both Louis and John will be signing copies of their books after the discussion.

About the book: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.

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