The Harvard You Didn’t Know with J. R. Thornton
Totally Booked with Zibby
Zibby Owens
4.5 • 643 Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2026
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Literary ingenue J.R. Thornton takes us into the posh world of Harvard College from dorm rooms and classrooms to parties and more when an outsider gets pulled into the ultra-elite establishment by his roommate Lucien and has to decide whether to live by his moral code or go along with the plot.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, this is Zibi Owens, and you're listening to Totally Booked with Zibby. Formerly, moms don't have time to read books. In my daily show, I interview today's latest, best-selling, buzziest, or underrated authors and story creators, whose work I think is worth your time. As a bookstore owner, publisher, author, and obviously podcaster, I get a comprehensive |
| 0:24.0 | look at everything that's coming out and spend my time curating the best books so you don't |
| 0:29.3 | have to. |
| 0:30.3 | Stay in the know, get insider insights, and connect with guests like I do every single day. |
| 0:36.2 | For more information, go to zibbimedia.com and follow me on |
| 0:39.7 | Instagram at Zibby Owens. J.R. Thornton is the author of Lucien, a novel. Born in London, |
| 0:49.5 | J.R. graduated from Harvard College in 2014. This is relevant because the book takes place there, |
| 0:55.1 | where he studied history, English, and Chinese. An internationally ranked junior tennis player, |
| 1:00.2 | he competed for Harvard and on the professional circuit. He was a member of the inaugural class |
| 1:04.8 | of Schwartzman Scholars, which, by the way, was founded by my dad, obtaining an MA from |
| 1:10.2 | from Tsinghua University in Beijing. His debut novel, Beautiful Country way, was founded by my dad, obtaining an M.A. from Shinghua University in Beijing. |
| 1:12.0 | His debut novel, Beautiful Country, which was loosely inspired by experiences he had in Beijing as a teenager, |
| 1:17.8 | was reviewed by literary luminaries such as Gary Steingart, Moghan, and Fried Zakaria. |
| 1:22.8 | The novel became a bestseller in China, and the film rights were subsequently purchased by WME IMG. |
| 1:28.4 | His second novel, Lucien, was first published in China in 2024 and ranked among the top 25 |
| 1:33.6 | best-selling new novels of the year. He now lives in Italy, working for A.C. Milan. |
| 1:38.6 | Welcome, J.R. Thank you so much for coming on Totally Booked to talk about Lucien. Did I |
| 1:43.2 | pronounce it right? Lucien? |
| 1:44.7 | Lucien, yeah, perfect. Perfect. Great. Well, congratulations. What a great book. |
| 1:49.7 | This is like the great Gatsby meets the Thomas Crown Affair meets, I don't know. I just loved it. |
| 1:56.1 | I felt like I just watched the whole movie of it. So amazing. Thank you. No. That's super kind words. I appreciate it. |
| 2:01.6 | Okay. Can we just start by discussing this cover situation? |
... |
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