Finding Forrester, by William Forrester

Finding Forrester is the story of Jamal Wallace's life in the rough world of the inner city. Although Jamal is intellectually gifted, he puts little effort into his schoolwork to avoid criticism from his friends. On a dare, he sneaks into a recluse's apartment and, to his surprise, befriends the inhabitant. The man helps Jamal with his writing, in exchange for Jamal keeping a secret: the man is William Forrester, the secluded author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Avalon Landing, his only published book. When a highly selective private school, Mailor Callow, sees Jamal's test results, he is offered a scholarship. Jamal accepts, although it is a major culture shock to go to this elite school. He is immediately befriended by a board member's daughter, which eases the transition.

Later, a professor named Crawford accuses Jamal of plagiarism because he incorporates the first paragraph and title of an essay by Forrester into one of his paper. The essay had been written by Jamal in Forrester's apartment, and despite the fact that he was told to keep anything he wrote in Forrester's house in Forrester's house, he turned it in. In the end, Forrester leaves the apartment after all of those years, pays a surprise visit to the school to address the professor's accusations in person, and reads one of Jamal's writing samples in order to prove his innocence.

Forrester moves back to his homeland of Scotland, where he dies of cancer. He leaves Jamal his apartment and a manuscript of his second and final novel, 'Sunset'. It is to be published by Jamal after he has written a foreword.