What is the title of your latest release?
LUCIEN
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
A talented artist at Harvard falls under the sway of his charming, dangerous roommate and becomes a reluctant accomplice in a scheme to sell forged paintings.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
I wanted to write a campus novel. Harvard was a setting I knew very well, and a world I felt readers might be curious about.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Of course.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Lucien: charismatic, reckless, opportunistic.
Atlas: insecure, lonely, loyal
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
How to paint a forgery
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I completed a skeleton first draft of the entire novel with large sections left blank and then went back and started research (on painting, art forgery etc.)
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Cotoletta Milanese
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s pretty simple. I have a small room in my apartment with some bookshelves and a desk that faces a window. I bought a bunch of old Penguin paperbacks from the 1950s on eBay and organized them by color and had them framed. So I have those up on the wall.
Who is an author you admire?
There are a lot. I’ll go with George Orwell.
Is there a book that changed your life?
THE PRACTICING STOIC by Ward Farnsworth helped me change my mindset a few years ago and pull myself out of a tough time I was going through.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
I was in my apartment in Milan. It was probably 8 or 9pm at night. I couldn’t bring myself to open the email for about twenty minutes but then I read it and just went outside and walked around the city for about an hour just reflecting and enjoying the moment.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
Literary fiction
What’s your favorite movie?
Hard question. I love Cohen Brothers films… maybe Fargo or The Big Lebowski.
What is your favorite season?
Summer
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
I’m lowkey about birthdays
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I recently watched The Gold: a British tv series on the Brink’s-Mat robbery. Super good. I’ve also been going through the New York Times list of the best 100 movies of the 21st Century and just saw The Lives of Others – which is excellent.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian
What do you do when you have free time?
I like to stay active. I try to run every day. I enjoy playing soccer and tennis, too.
What can readers expect from you next?
Hopefully a sequel to LUCIEN
Narrator: Andrew J. Andersen
A gifted yet financially disadvantaged artist falls victim to the manipulative control of his wealthy, enigmatic Harvard roommate in this incendiary novel from the author of Beautiful Country—a piercing exploration of class, ambition, identity, and the perilous cost of reinvention in the tradition of Patricia Highsmith and Donna Tartt.
The son of working-class Czech immigrants, Christopher “Atlas” Novotny is a talented painter who arrives at Harvard on a full scholarship. Raised amid hardship, he is unprepared for the privileged world introduced to him by his freshman roommate, Lucien Orsini-Conti.
Born to wealthy European diplomats, Lucien plays the part of the confident, sophisticated bon vivant. Where Lucien is bold and brash, Atlas is timid and introverted. Growing up a lonely outsider, Atlas is insecure, impressionable, and in awe of his brilliant roommate. But is Lucien all that he seems?
Sensing a willing disciple, Lucien introduces Atlas to a glittering new world of lavish parties and elite social clubs. When Atlas struggles to afford his new lifestyle, Lucien offers a solution, convincing the naïve artist to become a forger, passing off fakes to galleries and dealers.
But Lucien’s charismatic facade conceals something darker and more sinister. As Lucien’s behavior grows increasingly unstable, Atlas is forced into escalating risks with devastating consequences.
Drawing inspiration from the true crime stories of Christian Gerhartsreiter (a.k.a. “Clark Rockefeller”) and Adam Wheeler, Lucien is as darkly seductive and addictively readable as The Secret History, The Incendiaries, Creation Lake, and The Talented Mr. Ripley.
Thriller Psychological | Coming of Age [ Harper Perennial, On Sale: March 17, 2026, Paperback / e-Book / audiobook, ISBN: 9780063458437 / eISBN: 9780063458451 ]
Born in London, J. R. Thornton graduated from Harvard College in 2014 where he studied history, English, and Chinese. An internationally ranked junior tennis player, he competed for Harvard and on the professional circuit. He was a member of the inaugural class of Schwarzman Scholars, obtaining an M.A. from Tsinghua University in Beijing. His debut novel Beautiful Country (2016), which was loosely inspired by experiences he had living in Beijing as a teenager,was reviewed by literary luminaries such as Gary Shteyngart, Mo Yan, and Fareed Zakaria. The novel became a best-seller in China, and the film rights were subsequently purchased by WME/IMG.His second novel LUCIEN was first published in China in 2024 and ranked among the top 25 bestselling new novels of the year. He now lives in Italy, working for AC Milan.
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