Unable to remain silent any longer, Lucien will soon discover that looking for answers at House of Earth may be the most dangerous rule he can break. Continuing to meet Gabrielle in secret only reinforces his gnawing fear that something about his world is terribly wrong. New rules are put in place, and anyone who violates them is asked to leave and never spoken of again.Īs forbidden questions pile up, Lucien's willingness to obey weakens. Slowly, things begin to change at House of Earth. But when his youthful curiosity draws him into town and to Gabrielle, a public-school student living a life wholly different from his own, Lucien's inquisitiveness about life beyond the commune and questions regarding the events of 9/11 threaten to unbalance everything he thought he knew. It's where Lucien is taught the importance of living in harmony with nature and building a peaceful and sustainable future. Lucien has everything he needs: a loving mama, a library full of books, and House of Earth, a private school nestled safely in the woods of upstate New York. His journalism and essays have appeared in a wide variety of publications, including the New York Times, New York Magazine, the Washington Post, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, GQ, and the Columbia Journalism Review, among others. Unable to remain silent any longer, Lucien will soon discover that looking for answers at House of Earth may be the most dangerous rule he can break.In this coming-of-age thriller, a twelve-year-old boy's spark of courage to question the harmonious wooded commune he calls home may burn down more than just his own illusions. His latest novel, The Night Burns Bright, was published in 2022. New rules are put in place, and anyone who violates them is asked to leave and never spoken of again.Īs forbidden questions pile up, Lucien’s willingness to obey weakens. But when his youthful curiosity draws him into town and to Gabrielle, a public-school student living a life wholly different from his own, Lucien’s inquisitiveness about life beyond the commune and questions regarding the events of 9/11 threaten to unbalance everything he thought he knew. It’s where Lucien is taught the importance of living in harmony with nature and building a peaceful and sustainable future.

In this coming-of-age thriller, a twelve-year-old boy’s spark of courage to question the harmonious wooded commune he calls home may burn down more than just his own illusions.

The night burns bright ross barkan