A Changed Man

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“Francine Prose has a knack for getting to the heart of human nature. . . . We are allowed to enter the moral dilemmas of fascinating characters whose emotional lives are strung out by the same human frailties, secrets and insecurities we all share.” —USA Today

One spring afternoon, Vincent Nolan, a young neo-Nazi walks into the office of a human rights foundation headed by Meyer Maslow, a charismatic Holocaust survivor. Vincent announces that he wants to make a radical change. But what is Maslow to make of this rough-looking stranger with Waffen SS tattoos who says that his mission is to save guys like him from becoming guys like him?

As Vincent gradually turns into the sort of person who might actually be able to do that, he also begins to transform everyone around him, including Maslow himself. Masterfully plotted, darkly comic, A Changed Man poses essential questions about human nature, morality, and the capacity for change, illuminating the everyday transactions, both political and personal, in our lives.

What is charismatic Holocaust survivor Meyer Maslow to think when a rough-looking young neo-Nazi named Vincent Nolan walks into the Manhattan office of Maslow’s human rights foundation and declares that he wants to “save guys like me from becoming guys like me”? As Vincent gradually turns into the sort of person who might actually be able to do this, he also transforms those around him: Meyer Maslow, who fears heroism has become a desk job; the foundation’s dedicated fund-raiser, Bonnie Kalen, an appealingly vulnerable divorced single mother; and even Bonnie’s teenage son.

Francine Prose’s A Changed Man is a darkly comic and masterfully inventive novel that poses essential questions about human nature, morality, and the capacity for personal reinvention.

“Mercilessly funny.” “American literature’s finest satirist of professionals with problems . . . Prose knows the territory and tweaks it deliciously.” “Powerful, funny, and exquisitely nuanced . . . This story has a continental sweep.” “Timely and clever . . . Prose carries us along on the sheer energy of her sentences.” “Well-crafted and insightful.” “A novel of ideas, and provocative ones. Class–the dirty American secret–is no secret to Prose.” “[A] brilliant new comic novel . . . Prose’s sense of humor is as keen as ever.” “Piercing wit… This tale hits comic high notes even as it probes serious issues.” “Francine Prose is back with a powerful new novel about the possibility of starting over.” “This book has it all: great characters, dark humor, a racing plot and important themes.” “[An] artfully structured novel . . . [with] a selection of showstopping literary set pieces.” “Pitch-perfect and nuanced . . . We can’t wait to crawl into bed with this book every night.”

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