After Oscar: The Legacy of a Scandal

The Millions Most Anticipated Books of 2026

Written by Oscar Wilde’s only grandson, After Oscar recounts the gripping story of Wilde and his enduring legacy.

“Fascinating…A magnificent blend of scholarship and memoir and a vital contribution to Wildeana.”—Stephen Fry, actor and author

Oscar Wilde died in November 1900, exiled in Paris, his reputation in tatters, exhausted by scandal and prison life. While the details of his life in the limelight are well known, often ignored are the reverberations of the Wilde scandal over the decades following his trial and death.

With pathos, humor, and his grandfather’s signature wit, Merlin Holland charts the extraordinary afterlife of the legendary writer and thinker, tracing the dramatic fluctuations in Wilde’s posthumous reputation.

A true feat of storytelling and scholarship, After Oscar documents decades of sensationalist conjecture surrounding the Wilde family and exposes a century of bigotry and hypocrisy within the cultural establishment. Here is a book that will amuse, infuriate, fascinate, and shock. Readers beware—you’re in for a Wilde ride.