Butterfly

by Sylvester Stephens

Genres: African American; African American Urban; Coming of Age

Synopsis

A young girl fights to overcome her past after escaping rape, bullying, and homelessness. Shante Clemmons (Butterfly) is a mature-looking, fifteen-year-old foster home reject, who is tossed into the street in the middle of the night after being falsely accused of sleeping with her foster care father. She falls asleep behind a well-lit club only to be awakened by a huge intimidating man who offers her a job as a dancer. Butterfly becomes the most popular dancer in the club until she decides that she is ready to focus on her education. The upset owner of the club demands she make due on an old debt or suffer the consequences. It ends in a physical altercation, and Butterfly flees for her life. As fate would have it, she ends up in the care of her estranged father’s ex-prison cellmate, Dr. Johnny Forrester, who takes Butterfly under his roof to fulfill a promise he made to her father. With much dismay, Butterfly moves into the Forresters’ home. Despite her many obstacles, she is determined to survive her senior year of high school and then go to college...but will she?

Release date: January 8, 2013

Publisher: Strebor Books

Print pages: 320