While it sounded more like the plot of a big-budget action film or an episode of Law and Order, it was actually a piece of the very real lives of Los Gatos resident Lea Fredericks Frey and four of her closest high school friends—lives which have been chronicled in her book, Dear Voices , that has been named this year's selection for the annual Los Gatos Town-Wide Read.

Lea Fredericks grew up in western Pennsylvania. Following high school, where she formed friendships with the four men in her book, she completed nursing school and became a registered nurse. She met and married Bill Frey, a senior in medical school, and worked as a nurse while he completed his residency in internal medicine.

The couple had two sons, Bill Jr. and Randy.

Bill Sr. went on to spend 10 years as a military medical officer while the family lived in a number of places—Maine, Texas, Germany—before he was assigned to California.

In 1962, after returning from Germany, the Frey family set out across the country in the family car to a new home in California. In Indiana they were hit with heavy rains, thunder and lightning. Lea remembered that one of her old high school friends lived in Indianapolis so they stopped to call him and ask about motels in the area. Rob insisted they stay with him for the night.

During a conversation that night, Lea learned about the fate of their mutual friend from school, Joe.

"I think it was a gas station," says Lea, thinking back to the night Joe was arrested and sent to state prison in Virginia. "He had a gun that had no bullets in it, but he had a gun so that made it armed robbery."

After Joe escaped from prison, he wrote Rob a letter. It was not long before the FBI got wind of the correspondence and was knocking on Rob's door.

After that night, Lea, Rob and the two others who had rounded out the group of five in high school made their promise to each other.

"We agreed that since we had been inseparable friends in high school, we would stay in touch and write to him," Lea recalls.

Joe was eventually recaptured in 1963. The friends stayed true to their word and began writing to Joe.

Their five-way correspondence was not easy. Prison rules dictated that Joe was allowed to write only one letter per month. Therefore, after receiving four letters from each of his friends, he would write one letter that would have to answer all four friends' letters. Since Joe was only allowed to fill the front side of one piece of paper, he wrote in the tiniest script possible, filling the paper from edge to edge. Whoever received the letter from him each month would then type it up using carbon paper and send it on to the other four.

Joe was not allowed to keep each and every letter he received in prison, so Lea says he would copy the letters in tiny writing on smaller pieces of paper the size of index cards, so that he could keep every one in a file in his cell.

Lea says her book, Dear Voices, includes decades of letters between the five friends, dating back as far as 1944 and ending with Joe's last letter to Lea in June 2003, after she had already begun compiling her book.

The end result is a chronicle of the lives of five friends who were scattered all over the country—including one in state prison—yet kept the bond of their friendship strong.

"It's the story of one man who, at the age of 36, finds himself back in prison, at the depths of despair, convinced that his life was essentially over. He had quite simply screwed up his life and there seemed nowhere to turn," Lea says. "Then, abruptly, these four classmates appear out of the blue, with nothing to offer him but their friendship—no agendas, no conditions, no advice, no questions ... if he was interested in accepting that. What evolved is essentially the story in the book."

The friendship proved to have more healing power than any of them could have imagined. Lea says that Joe seemed to get his life together during the years he spent in prison. She says he educated himself, earning two degrees during his prison sentence, and reading literally every book in the prison library. Once his sentence was over and he was released, Lea says Joe went on to become a successful prison warden. He has even appeared on The Today Show, speaking about his accomplishments in prison reform in Maryland.

"It's an extraordinary story of one man's determination to atone for what he did," Lea says.

Dear Voices seems to be connecting with many—Lea has been contacted by Friends Outside, an organization that is committed to aiding the families of people serving prison sentences. She says the president of the board of directors is now considering doing a tour with her.

Lea has spoken at many different local organizations, including the Los Gatos Lions, the Los Gatos Rotary Club, the Junior League Book Club, the Los Gatos Unitarian Fellowship, the Santa Clara County Legal Advocates Group and many more. She has also been a featured author for the American Association of University Women's Local Author Forum. These days, she is preparing for events with the Los Gatos Town-Wide Read program. Having retired from her 25-year position teaching French, German and English at Fisher Middle School, as well as coaching diction for vocalists at Opera San Jose, Lea has more time to focus entirely on the promotion of this, her first literary work.

"I was just thrilled when the library chose Dear Voices for the Town-Wide Read," she says.

Lea will discuss the book with readers at the Los Gatos Library on May 10 at 7 p.m. and will be the featured speaker for the Friends of the Library Friday Forum in the town council chambers on May 13 at 7:30 p.m.

"Her book was chosen as one that would appeal to a range of ages and to both men and women," says Peggy Conaway, director of the Los Gatos Library. "Though the letters [the five friends] exchanged were from 1944 to 2003, familiar aspects of the human condition will resonate with almost any reader."

Lea says she is touched at the outpouring of local support for Dear Voices.

"I'm amazed at the number of people who are buying it. There must be something in it I'm saying that makes people interested," she says. "Local response has been incredible. It's really surprised me."

Lea Frey's book, 'Dear Voices,' is available online at amazon.com, borders.com, barnesandnoble.com and publishamerica.com. There are also 40 copies available to be checked out at the Los Gatos Library.