‘Absorbing . . . atmospheric’ – Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall

‘Tense, evocative, page turning’ – Emma Donoghue, author of Room

The sweeping American novel about race, love and family by Stuart Nadler, author of Rooms for Vanishing.

Hilton Wise is the son of one of the most powerful and wealthy lawyers in the United States. When he falls for Savannah, a young black girl he meets on Cape Cod during the summer of 1952, he has no idea that his passion for her will lead to the exposure of his father’s deepest secrets. The result will shatter his family, and hers.

Years later, unable to forget, Hilton abandons his comfortable life on the east coast and sets out to find Savannah. But as he struggles to right the wrongs he set in motion he comes to realize that forgiveness doesn’t have a price.

Set in the last half of the twentieth century, years that changed America for ever, Wise Men is a sweeping story about love and regret, about the crushing weight of familial obligation, and about the difficulty of doing the right thing in an unjust world.

‘Nadler skillfully creates characters whose failures and faults make them comically, endearingly human’ – New Yorker

‘It’s an absorbing, well-crafted book, with all the story-telling virtues on display. It is atmospheric, thoughtful and mature, with characters whose fate arouses genuine curiosity. It is fiction of great integrity and vast promise’ Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies
Nadler skillfully creates characters whose failures and faults make them comically, endearingly human * New Yorker *
Funny and tragic and old-fashioned and brand-spanking new, all at once * Oprah Magazine *
Stuart Nadler is a great writer * Time Out *
Brilliantly plotted and carefully observed . . . Wise Men confirms that Stuart Nadler is a writer of abundant talent and grace -- Amber Dermont, author of the The Starboard Sea
I have no doubt that Stuart Nadler is going to be one of our great novelists . . . these characters—knotted together with obligation, guilt, and love—will stay with me always -- Emma Straub, author of Laura Lamont’s Life in Pictures
A completely engrossing novel, one that scars the reader's heart in the most satisfying way . . . Wise Men is, at its core, is a brutal love story, full of surprise and conviction, insight and deception, staggering wealth and loss, truth and beauty -- Megan Mayhew Bergman, author of Birds of a Lesser Paradise
In his idealism and denial, Hilly Wise, the poor little rich boy, is a truly American character, and the perfect narrator for the tale -- Stewart O’Nan, author of Emily, Alone and The Odds
Stuart Nadler is an elegant writer and a compelling storyteller . . . a story packed with secrets, longings, and obsessions. It is not a book to be missed -- Vanessa Diffenbaugh, author of The Language of Flowers
A tense, evocative, page-turning saga of the bruising encounters between two families across the “colour line” over half a century. Every conversation rings painfully, beautifully true -- Emma Donoghue, author of Room

Stuart Nadler is a recipient of the 5 Under 35 Award from the National Book Foundation, and the author of Wise Men, The Inseparables, Rooms for Vanishing and a story collection, The Book of Life. His work has been named a Kirkus Best Book of the Year, a Barnes & Nobel Discover Great New Writers Selection, and an Amazon Book of the Year. He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where he was a Truman Capote Fellow and a Teaching-Writing Fellow. He lives in New England, USA.