The Resurrection of Ethan Hayes

About the Book

THE REINCARNATION OF ETHAN HAYES In the summer of 1958, a tourist who stopped with his family at a picnic area on property owned by Winthrop College in Skolfi eld, Maine, discovered a human skull. The investigation that followed revealed the identity of two of the three students who were responsible, in one way or another, for its being there. Following a convoluted string of events that included a fraternity prank that involved the exhumation of a body, the college physician and the Chief of the Skolfi eld Police Department questioned the two young men. The year before, Robin O’Brien came to Winthrop from Baker College in Weyland, Massachusetts as the spring fraternity house party weekend date of Randall “Sparky” Barbour, the self-appointed director of all things musical at the Kappa Nu House. When their blind date did not work out, she turned to Ned Cooper. The two of them seemed to have little in common; Ned was a working student of modest means from Skolfi eld, Maine, while Robin came from a comfortably affl uent family in Saugus, Massachusetts. Regardless of their differences, they fell in love and were pinned before Robin returned to Weyland at the end of the weekend. That summer, Robin landed a job as a playground supervisor with the Skolfi eld Recreation Department and Ned returned to his longtime job with the Winthrop College Department of Grounds & Buildings. After a wonderful holiday, they returned to their own colleges with renewed vigor, and their improved grades showed it. At that point, they both thought they would be together for the rest of their lives. Neither of them was prepared for the furor that followed the discovery of the skull in the college pines the following summer. They were both guilty of involvement in what seemed like an innocuous escapade at the time, but they thought they had gotten away with it and they had put it out of their minds. When they were forced to face the reality of expulsion, imprisonment, or both, their reactions were diametrically opposed to one another, threatening to destroy them individually as well as ending their relationship.

About the Author

J. Glen Howard, a native of Brunswick, Maine, earned an AB degree from Bowdoin College and served a tour with the army in Germany before entering the business world. During the next ten years, he moved six times, eventually arriving in Newport, Rhode Island, where he met and married his wife. When he learned that he had ankylosing spondilities, a form of arthritis, he quit his job and entered graduate school. After earning an MS degree in accounting, he sat for the CPA examination, and opened a public accounting offi ce, which he owned and operated for twenty-one years. His wife died in 1992 and he continued to work for four years, after which he retired at the age of 58 and returned to Brunswick. During his working years, Howard had little opportunity to associate with other disabled people. Working with people who knew no physical challenges, he simply found ways to keep up. After he returned to the Pine Tree State, however, he accepted a gubernatorial appointment to the Statewide Independent Living Council, and he was elected to its Executive Committee less than a year later. Today, he serves as its treasurer. A paraplegic, he wrote this book using an on-screen keyboard in an electronic notebook with his left hand, while lying in a hospital bed. He has always enjoyed writing, but he did not have much time to pursue it until after he retired, and fellow author, Edward T. Duranty, encouraged him to make time for it. At 72, this is his fi rst novel, but it was preceded by a number of articles and short stories, which have appeared in various media. He is working on a sequel.