In 1944 under circumstances that remain rather mysterious an aspiring writer named Jack Kerouac lost a novella-length manuscript title "The Haunted Life," a coming-of-age story set in his hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts.

Kerouac set his fictional treatment of Peter Martin against the backdrop of the everyday. Peter is heading into his sophomore year at Boston College, and while home for the summer in Galloway he struggles with the pressing issues of his day--the economic crisis of the previous decade and what appears to be the impending entrance of the United States into the Second World War.

The Haunted Life is rounded out by sketches, notes, and reflections Kerouac kept during the novella's composition, as well as a revealing selection of correspondence with his father, Leo Kerouac.