Original Novel Title: Message in a Bottle
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Publisher: New York: Warner Books, April 1998 (hardcover); Warner Books, January 1999 (paperback)
Feature Film Release Date: 1999
Robin Wright and Kevin Costner star in a classic romance linked by messages in a bottle to his dead wife. Robin's character, Theresa Osborne, is a researcher for a columnist at the Chicago Tribune. On vacation at Cape Cod where she has delivered her son to her ex-husband and his seemingly younger wife, she finds the bottle with Garret Blake's letter that touches her deeply. Her boss decides to print the letter in his column and she takes it very personally. The letter provokes an emotional response in the newspaper's readers. More messages arrive that confirm the first message's authenticity. While there is not much actual use by Theresa of her newspaper's library resources, the examination of the letter and corroborative chain of evidence pointing to Costner's character is an example of diplomatics in action.
The
Fictional World of Archives
Submitted by David Mattison, 1999.09.29. Updated 1999.09.29.