The Listener: A Novel

By Stephen M. Millett

In the summer of 1964, seventeen year old Simon Hughes is left with his grandparents in small-town Sweetwater, Indiana while his parents travel out west. At first, Simon feels abandoned and very resentful. But over the course of the summer, his grandfather tells him stories of Sweetwater in the 1920s which become more and more intriguing and downright shocking. Simon's grandfather, Dr. James B. Lester, is a highly respected retired physician who saved the small county seat of Sweetwater, Indiana, during the great Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918. Dr. Lester gradually reveals his family and personal secrets to his grandson, including his involvement in the Indiana Ku Klux Klan. He describes the Klan's 100% Americanism, pro-Prohibition, anti-corruption, anti-Catholic, and anti-immigrant, especially anti-Irish, sentiments, which he shared. He also tells Simon stories about his leadership role in the local Klan, about his attendance at the largest Klan konklave at Kokomo on the Fourth of July 1923, and about his participation in the sensational rape and murder trial of Grand Dragon D. C. Stephenson in 1925. As Simon searches for the reasons for his grandfather's involvement in the Klan, he hears his domineering grandmother's point of view on Dr. Lester's career, as well as the recollections and point of view of various town residents of that era, including the old town newspaper editor who was intimidated by the Klan and the attorney who represented his grandfather after a tragic accident. Simon gradually discovers that his grandfather had ulterior motives for participating in the Klan and that the old gentleman suffered from the remorse of life-shattering incidents that were deeply personal. This book provides a fictionalized history of the Ku Klux Klan in Indiana during the 1920s and how it exploited people's fears for its own political power and financial gain. As many as one-out-of-three white, native-born, Protestant Hoosier men may have belonged to the Klan, which at one time controlled the state government. A sub-plot deals with the young man's experiences during the summer of 1964, which was a turbulent year including the Civil Rights movement, the British Invasion, and the beginnings of our future involvement in the Vietnam War.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1731227310
• ISBN13: 9781731227317
• Release Date: November 2018
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 190 Pages
• Weight: 0.76 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.5" x 6.0"