Dear Zoe is an epistolary, young-adult novel by the American writer Philip Beard.

The novel is set in 2002 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and follows Tess's first year of high school.

Dear Zoe tells the story of 15-year-old Tess DeNunzio, who is wracked by guilt after losing her half-sister in a hit-and-run accident on the day of the September 11 attacks.

[2] When Beard originally wrote this novel, he was advised by a friend to change the format from epistolary to first person.

His friend who owned a local bookstore gave his manuscript to a representative from Penguin Books.

According to Beard, the most difficult part of writing “Dear Zoe” was to keep 9/11 in the background and not become overwhelmed.

[source needed] The story begins with 15-year-old Tess Denuizo who is remembering how her family named her sister.

By the third chapter, it is revealed that something terrible happened to her sister Zoe almost a year previous.

Tess learns that her mother might have been sleeping with Justin, a young man who works at the store that is down the street from their house.

She starts to adapt to her new living arrangements and has a hard time knowing she left her sister Em, who is much younger than her.

Tess has a moment with the boy next door, Jimmy Freeze, where she listens to the music he is playing.

She finally talks to him one day while she is sitting on her porch and offers him a beer but his dad refuses to let her give him one.

David asks Tess to start calling her mother again and their relationship improves.

On Tess's sixteenth birthday, she wakes up to find out her dad and Jimmy are in jail for selling weed.

When she goes to bed that night, she wakes up and forces her dad to bring her home to get a picture of Zoe.

[entire section needs improving] Tess uses the letters to work through some deep issues that surfaced from the death of Zoe.

By writing to Zoe, Tess eventually has closure and accepts her sister's death.

The reader does not find out what happens to Zoe until the end but guilt is an underlying theme for Tess.

She feels guilty not only for Zoe's death but also for leaving her other sister Emily home while she lives at her father's house.

Many schools now read "Dear Zoe" because it deals with a loss of a family member.

It is a coming of age novel where students can identify easily with Tess and her experiences not only with death but growing up in general.

[14] In November 2019, The Hollywood Reporter reported that a film adaptation was in development, directed by Gren Wells and starring Sadie Sink, Theo Rossi, Jessica Capshaw, Justin Bartha and Vivien Lyra Blair.