A Changed Man: A Novel

“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.

“Irresistible.” - New York Times

“A blisteringly funny yet compassionate novel.” - Newsweek

“A persuasive, mordantly witty, often touching dissection of the hopelessly confused motives that compel a person to either side of this divide.” - Tobias Wolff, author of Old School

“American literature’s finest satirist of professionals with problems . . . Prose knows the territory and tweaks it deliciously.” - Carlin Romano, Philadelphia Inquirer

“Fierce intelligence, brilliant storytelling and sharp characterization.” - Boston Sunday Globe

“Well-crafted and insightful.” - San Francisco Chronicle

“Powerful, funny, and exquisitely nuanced . . . This story has a continental sweep.” - New York Times Book Review

“Timely and clever . . . Prose carries us along on the sheer energy of her sentences.” - Chicago Tribune

“Pitch-perfect and nuanced . . . We can’t wait to crawl into bed with this book every night.” - New York Observer

“Mercilessly funny.” - Janet Maslin, New York Times

“[A] brilliant new comic novel . . . Prose’s sense of humor is as keen as ever.” - Miami Herald

“[An] artfully structured novel . . . [with] a selection of showstopping literary set pieces.” - Entertainment Weekly

“A novel of ideas, and provocative ones. Class--the dirty American secret--is no secret to Prose.” - Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times Book Review

“Francine Prose is back with a powerful new novel about the possibility of starting over.” - Harper's Bazaar

“This book has it all: great characters, dark humor, a racing plot and important themes.” - Newsday

“Piercing wit... This tale hits comic high notes even as it probes serious issues.” - Publishers Weekly (starred review)