North of the Grove

Reluctant father-to-be and avid jogger Howard Capelton, looks to stop running from his past by joining 5000 Role Models of Excellence Project. The organization assigns him to mentor and ultimately save the life of 9 year-old David Troy. David is an angry third grader struggling with his damaged and beautiful mother among the rougher, desolate streets of West Grove, Howard's proud and forgotten hometown in Miami, Florida. Will Howard be able to outrun his own trauma and selfishness to realize everything the boy, his mother and West Grove have to teach him? The story is a modernized version of an epistolary novel. This literary form utilizes letters, diary entries, or other documents to convey the narrative, offering a unique perspective and potentially a more intimate portrayal of events. North of the Grove updates the form with the use of texts, emails and Facebook DMs and gives the feeling of hacking into someone's phone and watching their life unfold.