Synopsis
Theresa Osborne is a Boston journalist and single mother of a 12-year old. One day while in Cape Cod, she picks up a bottle and finds herself playing with destiny. The bottle contains a note written just three weeks before, a declaration of love to a lost companion. Despite her initial skepticism, Theresa determinedly embarks on a search for the writer of the note. MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE appeared on the Publishers Weekly best-seller list for 17 weeks.

Details
Publication Date:	1999-02-01
Edition Description:	Reissue

Size
Length:	370 pages
Height:	6.5 in
Width:	4.3 in
Thickness:	1.0 in
Weight:	7.2 oz

Publisher's Note
The author of the runaway "New York Times" bestseller "The Notebook" pens a tale of self-discovery, renewal, and the courage it takes to love again. When a 36-year-old single mother finds a love letter in a half-buried bottle while jogging along the shores of Cape Cod, she decides to take a dramatic leap that will forever change her life.

Industry Reviews
Avoiding a sophomore slump, Sparks follows The Notebook with another sentimental candidate for the bestseller lists. Boston parenting columnist Theresa Osborne has lost faith in the dream of everlasting love. Three years after divorcing her cheating husband, the single mother is vacationing on Cape Cod when she finds a bottle washed up on the shore. Inside, a message begins: "My Dearest Catherine, I miss you." Subsequent publication of the poignant missive in her column turns up two more letters, found by others, from the same mysterious writer, Garrett Blake. Piqued by his epistolary constancy, Theresa follows the trail to North Carolina, where she discovers that Garrett has been mourning his late wife for three years; writing the sea-borne messages is his only solace. Theresa also finds that Garrett just might be ready to love again... and that she might be the woman for him. There are few surprises here as we watch the couple learn to love in Catherine's slowly waning shadow. By the time they do, Sparks has proved that a man who romantically (and manually) pens missives to his lost lady love in the era of e-mail is a welcome hero in this fin-de-millennium fax-happy world. (Knowing that Kevin Costner has been slated to play Garrett on screen doesn't hurt, either.) Film rights to Warner Bros.; simultaneous Time Warner audio; Literary Guild main selection and Reader's Digest select edition; author tour. (Apr.)
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