Hartwell Road traces the coming-of-age of Bartleby, a young man and burgeoning artist, wounded by his parent’s deceit, rage, violence, and their equally unpredictable generosity. True to the era in which this story takes place, he seeks refuge and comfort in the rebellion and excesses of the late 60s and 70s: sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

Through a montage of Bartleby’s ramblings and remembrances, we experience the malevolent forces - familial, philosophical, psychological and institutional - which influence his development. But it is Hartwell, Bartleby’s brother-in-spirit, who inspires him to embrace the beauty, mystery, subtlety and wildness of life’s many landscapes.

At once confidante, mentor and shaman, Hartwell is a remarkably believable, larger-than-life character, both mythic and earthly, who provides glimpses of enlightenment and examples of how to live courageously in the face of sorrow and the everyday struggles inherent in our culture.

When Bartleby’s wanderings eventually bring him full circle, and lead him to healing, love and solace in the forests his great-grandfather wandered nearly a century before, we are reminded of the deeper canons of enduring American literature; for Hartwell Road is a work that hums with wild energy, angst, insight and ardor - the stuff of life that will open the minds, hearts and hopes of many generations, now and far into the future.