The Messenger (Markus Zusak novel)

The Messenger

Australian paperback edition
Author	Markus Zusak
Country	Australia
Language	English
Publisher	Pan Macmillan
Publication date	10 January 2002
Media type	Print (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages	396 (first edition, paperback)

The Messenger is a 2002 Novel by Markus Zusak, and winner of the 2003 Children's Book Council of Australia Book of the Year Award. The Messenger was released in the United States under the name I Am the Messenger. The entire story is written through the eyes of the main character, Ed Kennedy, who describes and comments on the story throughout the book.

During a visit to the bank, the protagonist Ed Kennedy, a nineteen-year-old Australian taxi driver, accidentally foils a robbery when the robber tries to escape in his friend's run-down car. After speaking to the police, he is interviewed by local media and proclaimed a hero. Ed complains about his life, lamenting his strained relationship with his mother Bev Kennedy, as his father died recently and left Ed with only his dog, the Doorman. He lives alone in an apartment, playing cards every week with his friends Ritchie, who is unemployed and generally apathetic about life; Marv, a stingy carpenter; and Audrey, a fellow taxi driver who Ed is in love with, although she does not return the feeling.

One night he receives a small envelope in the mail with no return label, inside of which is an Ace of Diamonds with three addresses and times of day written on them. After his friends deny any involvement, Ed travels to the first address on the card at midnight and witnesses a man raping his wife while their daughter cries on the porch. The other addresses correspond to a senile widow named Milla who lives alone and refers to him as Jimmy, as well as a young girl named Sophie who runs barefoot every morning but still cannot win at her track meets. Ed researches Milla's history and discovers that she is waiting for her husband who died sixty years ago during World War II, so he pretends to be Jimmy and comes to reads to her weekly. He raises Sophie's spirits by giving her an empty shoe box to get her to try running barefoot at her next competition, and even though she loses again, she still finds pride in her achievement. Finally, he receives a gun in the mail and kidnaps the rapist before threatening to kill him for his crimes.

After finishing the Ace of Diamonds, two masked men break into his house, beat him up, and leave him a congratulatory letter as well as an Ace of Clubs with a vague clue. The next day Ed reveals to Audrey that he only forced the rapist to leave the city, before telling her that he wishes the two of them could be together, but Audrey refuses. Eventually, Ed picks up a man in his cab who tells him to drive to the river before leading Ed on a chase to a rock formation on which three names are written. The first is Thomas O'Reilly, a pastor in a run-down area of the city with a dwindling congregation; Ed helps him by organizing and advertising for a party with free beer in order to encourage everyone to come on Sunday. The next, Angie Carusso, is a single mother who Ed witnesses buying ice cream for her children, and he buys her one as well to show that she is appreciated. Finally, Gavin Rose is a young boy who constantly fights his brother, so Ed beats up Gavin in order to encourage the brother to take revenge, which they do one night by assaulting Ed and cementing their brotherhood.