You've Changed - by Ian Williams (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The eagerly awaited follow-up novel from the Giller prize-winning author of Reproduction, You've Changed is a daring and clever dissection of a crumbling marriage between two people who are morphing in ways that confound each other.

Middle-aged and about to be dumped from his construction job, Beckett is not feeling his best--especially since his wife, Princess, is already pressuring him to improve himself. She's a fitness instructor who spends a lot of time and energy finetuning every inch of her body. Still, they both think their marriage is basically fine, until a couple of friends show up for a visit, their mutual affection and sexual chemistry loudly on display. In one weekend, they upset the tenuous balance between Beckett and Princess, throwing them into parallel midlife crises.

Princess thinks the problem is physical, and attempts to revive Beckett's interest with relentless surgical alterations and bodily enhancements that have the opposite effect on her husband. Beckett tries to woo Princess back to him by relaunching his contracting business, laying his manly accomplishments at her feet. Then, while Princess is away pursuing even more drastic beauty measures, Beckett meets Gluten, an energetic and erratic man devoted to living in the moment, whom Beckett feels drawn to in ways that surprise him. Beckett is changing, Princess is changing: what will happen to their already stressed marriage?

Sharp, inventive and absurdly funny, You've Changed is a wild ride exploring identity, insecurity, intimacy and desire, and who individuals become when they unite, and how they change despite promising not to.

About the Author

IAN WILLIAMS is the author of seven acclaimed books of fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He delivered the 2024 CBC Massey Lectures, What I Mean to Say, on rehabilitating conversations. His previous book, Disorientation, was selected as a best book of the year by the Boston Globe. Williams's debut novel, Reproduction, won the Scotiabank Giller Prize. His poetry collection, Word Problems, won the Raymond Souster Award, and his previous collection, Personals, was shortlisted for the Griffin Poetry Prize and the Robert Kroetsch Poetry Book Award. Williams's short story collection, Not Anyone's Anything, won the Danuta Gleed Literary Award for the best first collection of short fiction in Canada. He is a trustee for the Griffin Poetry Prize and a professor of English and director of the Creative Writing program at University of Toronto.