Message in a bottle door Nicholas Sparks

Engels boekverslag

Boek: Message in a bottle – Nicolas Sparks

Divorcee Theresa Osborne, newspaper columnist and mother of a twelve-year-old son, picks up a bottle on the beach during a seaside vacation. Inside is a letter from a man called Garrett Blake.
For Garrett, his message is the only way he knows to express his undying love for a woman he has lost. For Theresa, wary of romance since her husband shattered her trust, the message raises questions that intrigue her. Who are Garrett and Catherine? What is their story? Challenged by the mystery and unaccountably drawn to find him, Theresa embarks on a search that takes her to a sunlit coastel town and an unexpected confrontation.
Brought together by chance, or something more powerful, Theresa and Garrett are people whose lives are about to touch for a purpose, in a tale that resonates with our deepest hopes for finding that special someone and everlasting love.

Chapter 1

She lives in Boston – 36 years old - loves to jog – she loves her son Kevin – he is at her ex-husband in California when she is on a holiday at Cape Cod.
Theresa is running on the beach in England, Cape Cod. When she’s ready she finds a spot on a small dune, she sat in the sand and opened her bag. She had an envelope with three letters in it. When she had finished reading them she slipped them back into the envelope. From where she was sitting, she could see the place where it had all started. She is staying with Deanna and Brian. They were an older couple (nearing sixty) but Deanna was the best friend she had. Deanna is Theresa’s managing editor at the newspaper where Theresa worked the Boston Times. She runs on the beach during her holiday every morning. Theresa finds a bottle washed up on the beach. There is a letter in it and it's written by a man called Garrett. It's dedicated to his late wife Catherine. It’s only three weeks old. Theresa reads the letter that would change her life forever.

Chapter 2

Deanna sees that she has been crying, and she also reads the letter. She thinks it’s very touching and beautiful. She suggests to publish the letter in Theresa’s column because she thinks that other people would love to read it. They don’t use the real names and change the name of the city Wrightsville Beach. Theresa doesn’t like the idea, but the letter is so touching that she hopes that other people will love it and the next week it’s published in her column.

Chapter 3

Theresa returns to Boston. The mail on her desk Monday Morning was overwhelming. There were almost 200 letters when she arrived and another 50 arrived later that day.
She gets a phone call from a lady who also found a letter from Garrett on the beach. Michelle Turner who lives in Norfolk, Virginia, faxes a second letter from Garrett to Theresa. The letter had left another deep impression and it seemed impossible to put it all behind her. Were there more letters, what type of man would send them in bottles and what did it all mean? Garrett seemed the perfect, ideal man for Theresa. The question: ‘Where are you Garrett?’ kept ringing trough her head. Something had happened three days later that caused her to charge into the unknown with only a suitcase full of clothes and a stack of papers that may or may not have meant anything. She discovered a third letter from Garrett.

Chapter 4

Theresa finds a third letter that was published in a magazine when she searched the database at Harvard. She calls the writer and he faxes her the letter after she had promised to give him tree hundred dollars.
Theresa talks with Deanna about the tree letters from Garrett. Deanna can tell that she is interested in Garrett and want to meet him. They read the tree letters carefully and find a couple of names that they can use to find out where Garrett lives. Garrett has a scuba diving shop in Wilmington and Theresa flies to Wilmington the next day. She wonders where all this would lead.

Chapter 5

She would go to Island Diving and browse around the store, with the hope of getting a look at Garrett Blake. If he turned out to be a 70-year-old man or a 20-year-old student, she would simply turn around and go home. But if he is her age she decided she would try to speak with him. Garrett isn’t in the shop, but a guy in the shop tells her he is working at the docks at his boat Happenstance. Theresa walks to the decks, but there is nobody around. Happenstance was a beautiful boat. Then she heard a man voice asking if he could help her. Theresa looked at him: “He looked to be in his thirties, with a lean face and short brown hair that seemed to have bleached a little from hours spent in the sun. He was taller than the student by a couple of inches, and the sleeveless shirt he was wearing showed well-defined muscles in his arms. Because the picture was a little grainy, she couldn’t make out the colour of his eyes, though she could tell that his face was weathered as well. She thought she saw wrinkles around the corner of his eyes, though that could have been caused by squinting in the sun. He was tall and broad shouldered. Though not strikingly handsome, his face was tan and rugged, as if the sun and sea had taken their toll. His eyes weren’t nearly as hypnotic as David’s had been, but there was something compelling about him for sure. Something masculine in the way he stood before her.”
Theresa and Garrett talked about Happenstance, and Theresa told him she had never sailing before. Garret asked her to go sailing with him at seven o’clock after he was done with his work. She was surprised that he had asked her, but accepted his offer quickly.

Chapter 6

They go sailing together, and get to know each other. Catherine and Garrett had been married for 6 years. They were in the same high school. But he noticed her later when the bumped into each other at Wrightsville. He couldn’t clean up his things after she died, so his father (Jeb) did it for him when Garrett was away for a weekend.
Garret has memories of his dead wife Catherine because Theresa reminds him of her. He doesn’t understand what’s wrong with him. Theresa likes him very much, and loves the sailing trip. At the end she leaves her shirt at Happenstance behind, because than she has to get in touch with him again. When she’s in bed she can’t stop thinking about him.

Chapter 7

The next day Garrett has to go to his scuba diving shop, but he decides to go to the docks first. He needs some time alone. Theresa called him at the shop while he was away, so he calls her back. She tells him she left her jacket on the boat, she asks him if she can pick it up. They remember the nice evening they had and Garrett want to lunch with her at Hanks. After lunch they take a walk along the beach, and Garrett tells Theresa the story about Catherine. When they walk back at the pier, hand in hand, he asks her to come over for dinner at his house at eight.

Chapter 8

Theresa comes the Garrett to have dinner. He prepares his special steaks for her. They open up their hearts to each other. Theresa tells Garret that her ex cheated on her, and Garrett tells more about Catherine. After dinner they walk along the beach and have sex. They lay in each other arms and enjoy the view of the sea.

Chapter 9

Garrett and his father Jeb are very close. Garrett tells everything to Jeb. He was a big help for Garrett during the time that Christine died. Jeb is very happy for Garrett because it was time to let Christine go (3 years) and fall in love with another woman. Garrett doesn’t think that he’s in love with Theresa, but he has to admit that she makes him happy.

Chapter 10

The next morning at six o’clock Garrett calls here awake. When she is back at the office after the week spending with Garrett, she finds roses on her desk that Garrett had send her. That afternoon she had lunch with Deanna.
Two weeks later that Kevin had arrived, Theresa and Kevin went to see Garrett. She wanted Kevin to meet with Garrett because she feels that something is starting with them. Garrett is becoming very special for her and him meeting Kevin seems the wright decision. When they arrived at the airport in Wilmington they first had a snack at Mac Donald’s. Then Garrett drives them to their motel. The next morning Kevin wakes Theresa up at 6 and tells her she needs to do the test for scuba diving. In the afternoon they get lessons from Garrett in scuba diving. At nine o’clock pm Kevin falls asleep and they decide to sleep at Garrett’s house. The next day they Garrett gave them more lessons. And they went sailing on Happenstance. They were back late, so when Garrett dropped them off at the motel they fell a sleep immediately. The next day they went diving in the sea. They spent the night at Garrett’s but Kevin is so tired that they decide to let them sleep in Garrett’s bed. Middle of the night Theresa comes to Kevin and wakes him up. They made love very quietly and when they are finished they feel happy and finally say that they love each other. Theresa and Kevin are going home the next day after receiving their scuba diving certificate.

Chapter 11

A few days after Theresa and Kevin had left, Garrett had a dream about Catherine.
Then he talks to his dad and he gets a pep talk, because he feels a little depressed. Then he takes a walk on the beach and after that he gives Theresa a call to tell here he’s coming to Boston to see her. Theresa first shows Garrett the city and after that they eat Mexican food at her apartment. Kevin had soccer camp so they didn’t have to worry about him. The next day they went on another tour through Boston.
The day Garrett was leaving they had lunch with Deanna and Brian. Deanna likes Garrett very much, thinks he’s the right guy for Theresa.
A few weeks later Theresa was supposed to come over at 6 and have a thanksgiving meal with his father and Garrett in Wilmington. But something had come up and she can’t make it. Garrett doesn’t like it, and he finds it very difficult that they live so far apart.
The next day Garrett spends the whole day on Happenstance because he needed to think. After that he calls Theresa. That night he has a weird dream, again, and tells his father he wants to marry Theresa. When Garrett visit Theresa again, he asks her to come and live with him. They get in a fight and she walks away. When he is waiting for her to come back, he tries to find something to write on. He finds his letters that he wrote to Catherine. After a big fight when she had returned, he left and also said: “we have never come close to what Catherine and I had”.

Chapter 12

He takes the first flight he could catch and was home at 11 am. Then his father comes by and they talk. The doorbell rings. It’s Theresa. Jed leaves and they make love. The next morning Theresa tells him that she can’t do it anymore. She says she feels like she can’t compete with Catherine and that she is going to leave because he isn’t over Catherine. Then she leaves with a plain back to Boston.

Chapter 13

The next year she was keeping herself busy as much as she could to forget Garrett. Then she gets a call from Jed, if she could fly over. He says it’s very important. Then the book explains Garrett’s thoughts. Garrett tells that he sat by Catherine’s side as she died while she was pregnant of their baby. He tells that he threw the letters in the water because he hoped they would end up in Europe, because that’s where she always wanted to go.
When decides to sent his last letter to Catherine he gets rapped up in a storm and his boat sinks. Garrett also didn’t make it through the storm and they buried him next to Catherine. She looks, after the wake that was held in Garrets house, at photographs that Jed found. The next day Jed gives here an envelope with a couple of pictures and the first three letters. She stayed home the days after that and Deanna moves in with here for a while. She had an agreement with Jed that he would call as soon as he finds out more about Garrett’s death. One year later she receives a package. It’s a bottle with a letter in it. It’s from Garrett. The letter says that he wants to live with her and that he loves her and wants her back. And he thinks that Catherine has brought the bottle to Theresa, and she didn’t come in between them.
In July Theresa and Kevin went scuba diving in Florida. After that she went to the sea and dropped her own letter into the sea that thanked Garrett for turning up in her life.