Dusk

After the brutal death of his dog at the hands of his mother, Josh Brooks finds himself at an emotional impasse. Feeling stifled by his affluent hometown of Sherwood, he is consumed by wanderlust. His dreams of throwing away his future at Georgetown are interrupted by his disconnected parents, who institutionalize him in an asylum. Upon his release, he returns to Sherwood, where he picks up the pieces of his life in a quest for love and happiness.

Josh's mother, Linda, is the kind of woman who never worked, but hired nannies to raise him. She cares more about what the neighbors think than what her son thinks. She pokes and prods him throughout the novella, undermining his efforts at moving forward and trying to mold him into the person she wants him to be.

Meanwhile, Josh finds comfort at home with the young, black maid Linda hired when he was gone, Paula. Her beauty and sweetness are endearing. More importantly, Paula becomes Josh's confidant as he navigates Sherwood high society and his turbulent romantic life.

The love of Josh's life is his best friend Maddy, but she has other ideas for their relationship. Josh finds himself in a love triangle for Maddy's affection, which takes an emotional toll. Through good and bad, the one person who can comfort him is Paula, an outsider in Sherwood.

In the toxic and ostentatious world of Sherwood, Josh must determine whom he can trust and whom he cannot. He will soon learn that his literal health and well-being depends on that. In the end, Josh makes a strong decision in the path to moving forward with his life. That conviction, however, is questioned by a disaster which threatens to engulf all of Sherwood.

DUSK is a novella about lost love, unrequited love, and future love. It takes readers behind the veneer of the modern American elite. Simultaneously, it ponders important questions about the role and scope of love in a young man's life. More than anything, DUSK breaks our preconceptions of family, offering an honest and heartwarming tale of hope and love.