Cast of Characters:
Theresa Osborne
David Osborne
Kevin Osborne
Garrett Blake
Catherine Blake
Jeb Blake
Deanna
Brian
Settings:
The second romance novel written by American author Nicholas Sparks. The story, which explores the romance theme of love after grief, is set in the mid-late 1990s, then-contemporary Wilmington, North Carolina.
Theme:
" Everything happens for a reason. "
Author:
Nicholas Sparks is an American screenwriter and novelist, born on 31st December 1965 to Patrick Michael Sparks and Jill Emma Marie. He was the middle of three children. He was raised as a Catholic and he still follows the Catholic faith. He is very religious man; going to Church, Sunday school and confessions. His son is an altar boy. As a young kid he moved a lot as his father was continuing with his education. In 1974 his family finally settled in Fair Oaks in California where he graduated from Bella Vista High School as a valedictorian. For further studies he went to University of Notre Dame where he got a full track and field scholarship and graduated in 1988. He met the girl, who was later to become his wife, during the spring break of that year. They got married in 1989 and moved to Sacramento, California.
Message In a Bottle
Theresa Osborne, on a rare vacation, is running on the beach, thinking of her eight year marriage and the difficulties of dating with a twelve-year-old son Kevin Osborne at home.
Theresa admits to herself that she is lonely, not because she misses her
husband specifically, but because she misses the companionship inherent
to marriage. As these thoughts are going through her mind, Theresa
sees a bottle on the beach.
Theresa get the bottle and she open it. Inside is one of the most touching love letters Theresa has ever read, apparently a letter from a man to his lost love Catherine.
July 22, 1997
My Dearest
Catherine,
I
miss you, my darling, as I always do, but today is especially hard because the
ocean has been singing to me, and the song is that of our life together. I can
almost feel you beside me as I write this letter, and I can smell the scent of
wildflowers that always reminds me of you. But at this moment, these things
give me no pleasure. Your visits have been coming less often, and I feel
sometimes as if the greatest part of who I am is slowly slipping away.
I am trying, though. At night when I am alone,
I call for you, and whenever my ache seems to be the greatest, you still seem
to find a way to return to me. Last night, in my dreams, I saw you on the pier
near Wrightsville Beach. The wind was blowing through your hair, and your eyes
held the fading sunlight. I am struck as I see you leaning against the rail.
You are beautiful, I think as I see you, a vision that I can never find in
anyone else. I slowly begin to walk toward you, and when you finally turn to
me, I notice that others have been watching you as well. "Do you know
her?" they ask me in jealous whispers, and as you smile at me, I simply
answer with the truth. "Better than my own heart."
I
stop when I reach you and take you in my arms. I long for this moment more than
any other. It is what I live for, and when you return my embrace, I give myself
over to this moment, at peace once again.
I
raise my hand and gently touch your cheek and you tilt your head and close your
eyes. My hands are hard and your skin is soft, and I wonder for a moment if
you'll pull back, but of course you don't. You never have, and it is at times
like this that I know what my purpose is in life.
I
am here to love you, to hold you in my arms, to protect you. I am here to learn
from you and to receive your love in return. I am here because there is no
other place to be.
But
then, as always, the mist starts to form as we stand close to one another. It
is a distant fog that rises from the horizon, and I find that I grow fearful as
it approaches. It slowly creeps in, enveloping the world around us, fencing us
in as if to prevent escape. Like a rolling cloud, it blankets everything,
closing, until there is nothing left but the two of us.
I
feel my throat begin to close and my eyes well up with tears because I know it
is time for you to go. The look you give me at that moment haunts me. I feel
your sadness and my own loneliness, and the ache in my heart that had been
silent for only a short time grows stronger as you release me. And then you
spread your arms and step back into the fog because it is your place and not
mine. I long to go with you, but your only response is to shake your head
because we both know that is impossible.
And
I watch with breaking heart as you slowly fade away. I find myself straining to
remember everything about this moment, everything about you. But soon, always
too soon, your image vanishes and the fog rolls back to its faraway place and I
am alone on the pier and I do not care what others think as I bow my head and
cry and cry and cry.
Garrett
When Theresa shows the letter to her friend and editor, she is talked
into publishing the letter in her parenting column in the Boston Times.
The reaction of the readers is overwhelming and Theresa returns from
vacation to piles of letters and many phone calls from people wanting to
know more. One of these phone calls comes from a woman claiming to
have another letter written by the same man.
Theresa fell in love with Garrett and also Garrett to Theresa.
At the end of the novel,
A week or more later, Theresa finds a package from Garrett waiting for
her. Theresa opens it and discovers a bottle with a message inside.
The letter tells her that Garrett has finally realized that Catherine
has brought them together and it is time for him to let her go.
Garrett
also says in the letter that he went out on that day to
send one final letter to Catherine before devoting his life to a
relationship with Theresa and Kevin.
A year later, Theresa sends a
letter to Garrett via a message in a bottle, thanking him for coming
into her life and teaching her that she can go on despite her
overwhelming grief.
(The End)
