Julie Deshtor

Letters to Phoenix Julie Deshtor

Derek has just spent his sixteenth birthday locked inside Farmstead, a behavior correctional facility for troubled teens. Now, he devotes every waking minute waiting for his girlfriend, Emma, to visit. But when she does not appear day after day, he takes out his frustration on an orderly and the steel door that separates him from everything he knows and loves. Emma has no idea what has happened to Derek. When she finally learns where he might be from a beloved school counselor, she works through her grief by writing in her journal-addressing Derek as Phoenix. She lovingly wraps a birthday gift for him and takes it to his parents to deliver. As time slowly passes, Derek and Emma attempt to go on with their lives without each other. She thinks he has forgotten her: he thinks she has forgotten him. Six months later when she finally receives a clue as to Derek's whereabouts, Emma pens a personal ad in the newspaper, hoping he will see it. But as she waits for his response, Emma has no idea that there are people determined to do whatever it takes to alter her destiny with Derek. Letters to Phoenix shares the tale of a rebellious teen and his one true love as they battle seemingly insurmountable odds to be together.