Arrested: The Trials of Chester Beck (Paperback)

Chester Beck believes that life hands out bad luck. After a rise to the presidency of his fraternity, the college boy gets arrested for sodomy. U of Miami Music School's Dean John Bitten becomes Chester's knight avant. His older brother reveals the damming record causing social distress, loss of a girlfriend, and a forced resignation. The outcast changes his major to English, and upon graduation, secures a teaching position at Dade County's innovative school without failure. Chester earns the admiration of his colleagues and flourishes in this progressive experiment. However, the superintendent contests the high school's "hogwash programs." Not only is the school neutered but the area director, principal, and, in particular, Chester Beck are disciplined. Why? Because he had reported a connected colleague for mal practice. Chester's interracial engagement upends his mother. His grandma wills her estate in Lithuania and cuts her daughter from any inheritance as a show of approval. Despite hateful encounters, Lily Beth and Chester are married in the courtroom of a judge who dismissed Chester's second arrest. Mom does not attend. These trials and more comprise the pages of this novel.