In March 2025, Harvard announced it was making tuition free for families making less than $200,000 annually. But what about those low-income students who came before, the ones who felt the constant pressure to pay for their education while excelling academically and fitting in socially?
That’s the question anchoring J.R. Thornton’s new novel, “Lucien,” which follows the bond — and criminal partnership — between outsider Chris, a Harvard art student born to modest immigrant parents, and his wealthy “big man on campus” roommate Lucien.
“One of the initial ideas for this story came from a real-life case that happened at Harvard the year before I got there,” said Thornton, who graduated from the school in 2014. “[It was] a student who had this incredible resume and was a finalist for the Rhodes Scholarship and had straight A’s and spoke a dozen languages… And then they looked into his old background and realized that everything had been fabricated.”
Studying at Harvard, Thornton noticed the prominence of money troubles among his classmates; this inspired Thornton to marry Chris’ desire for personal connection with the character’s economic disadvantages. As the novel goes on, this allows Lucien to manipulate Chris in a variety of ways, including changing his name and joining an illegal web of art forgery.
Though “Lucien” has all the hallmarks of a “dark academia” novel — gothic, campus-set tales like Donna Tartt’s “The Secret History,” the film “Dead Poet’s Society” and Patricia Highsmith’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley” — Thornton sees his book more as a classic thriller. To sell the authenticity of the novel’s suspense, Thornton researched the secret lives of art forgers.
“I thought it was a cool, interesting world that most people don’t know about and is much more prevalent than people think,” Thornton said. “[Something] between 30% and 45% of art on the market is believed to be fake or misattributed. I think people like learning about these subcultures and hidden worlds.”
He also wants readers to think of “Lucien” as a coming-of-age story. While many first-year college students face identity crises, Chris’ lack of status magnifies his struggle, and Thornton hopes students recognize the difficulties of figuring out who they are, especially at a school with such a renowned pedigree.
“At university, it’s a moment to reset and to be someone different,” Thornton said. “[You’re] away from home, away from your parents and you can make your own decisions. [That is] one of the emotional aspects at the core of the novel and something that, if people that age read it, [will] be able to relate to.”
Guest
- J.R. Thornton, author of “Lucien”
