The Clearing is a haunting and introspective novella about a disillusioned man in search of solace and purpose. After a string of failed relationships and dead-end jobs, he takes a position as caretaker on a sprawling 3,000-acre ranch, secluded deep in the mountains and far from civilization. Living alone, he dedicates himself to carving a path through the dense forest at the behest of a wealthy landowner.

As the weeks stretch into months, the solitude sharpens his awareness of the woods—and of himself. Strange and unsettling occurrences begin to erode his grip on reality, pulling him into an eerie confrontation with his past, his psyche, and the untamed wilderness surrounding him. The deeper he ventures into the forest, the closer he comes to an elusive clearing—both literal and metaphorical—that may hold the answers he seeks or lead to his unraveling.

A poignant meditation on isolation, toxic masculinity, trauma, humanity’s fraught history of imposing on the land, and the disconnection from the natural world, The Clearing explores what it means to be both lost and found in the wilderness within and without.