John Bolinger

Resisting Gravity John Bolinger

Resisting Gravity (A Ghost Story) is about grief and healing. Bruce Benson, a retired Boston man whose wife dies after fifty years of marriage experiences terrible grief to the point at which he believes that if he sells their house and everything in it, the painful memories can be abated. He buys an old house (built in 1882) in Cambridge that he decides to redo, using his carpentry skills even though his career has been that of an accountant. He hopes that his being busy will ease the pain of his recent loss (and the loss of his daughter, who years before died at the age of nine). The house, however is haunted by the spirit of a little boy named Andrew (and his dog, Finn), who died in 1882 of Scarlet Fever. It is not a horror story. The little ghost actually helps Bruce in extraordinary ways to survive the loss of his wife and child. The theme is really about rediscovering life after unspeakable pain and loss and the innate power to find joy and purpose again. The story includes humor and pathos mixed in a way that is credible but also inspiring.