Twilight

by Stephenie Meyer

Plot summary

Bella Swan is a seventeen-year-old introvert girl who moves from Charlie. Her mother, Renée, is traveling with her new husband, Phil Dwyer, a minor league baseball player. Bella is admitted to Forks High School, where she easily befriends many of the students. A somewhat inexperienced and shy girl, Bella is dismayed by several boys competing for her attention.

On the first day of her school, Edward Cullen, a mysterious and beautiful boy stares at Bella, frustrated. Bella sits next to Edward in biology class, but he seems to be utterly repulsed by her, much to her bewilderment. He disappears for a few days but when he returns, he is unexpectedly friendly to Bella. Their newfound relationship is interrupted after Bella is nearly struck by a van in the school parking lot. Edward saves Bella, narrowly stopping the van with his bare hands. Bella questions Edward about how he saved her life but he refuses to tell anything.

During a campout, she meets Jacob Black, a local boy from the Quileute tribe. She learns from him that Edward and his family are actually vampires who consume only animal blood. Disturbed and riddled by recurring nightmares, Bella researches about vampires. She compares the characteristics of the vampires in mythology to the Cullens. Convinced that he is a vampire, she finds herself in a state of enigma.

Bella is saved by Edward again in Port Angeles when she is almost attacked by a group of men. Furious, Edward drives Bella away and takes her to a restaurant for dinner and then back home. On the way, she tells him of the stories that he is a vampire. Seeing that there's no point denying, he agrees to it. He confesses that Bella's blood is more desirable to him than to any other vampire. He wanted to kill her on the first day of school. He tried to stay away so that he couldn't hurt her. Over time, Edward and Bella fall in love.

Their relationship is affected when a nomad vampire coven arrives in Forks. James, a tracker vampire, who is intrigued by Cullen's relationship with a human, wants to hunt Bella for sport. Bella and Edward are forced to separate as Bella escapes with Alice and Jasper (Edward's brother and sister), to hide in a hotel in Phoenix.

James calls Bella and claims to be holding her mother hostage. Bella sneaks out and hurries to save her mother. When she arrives at the place, she finds that the hostage claim was a ruse. James attacks her, but before he can kill her, she is rescued by Edward and the other Cullens who kill James. However, James has already bitten Bella. Edward prevents her from becoming a vampire by sucking the venom out of her wound, and she is treated at a hospital, using the story that she fell out of a window as an excuse.

After they return to Forks, Edward takes her to the school prom, as Edward did not want Bella to miss any normal human experience because of him. Bella says that she wants to become like him, a vampire, but Edward reiterates he is against this.

Bella's desire to become a vampire increases throughout the series. Edward continues to refuse to turn her, as he thinks being a vampire is being a monster, and does not want Bella to suffer the same fate.

Main characters

* Isabella Swan - Isabella, who prefers to be called Bella, is a 17-year-old girl. She moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, Washington to live with her father. Her mother moves to Florida with her second husband. Bella has a kind and awkward personality that is more mature than most girls her age. She is intelligent and observant, noticing and formulating theories about the Cullens' strange behaviors, physical features, and unusual abilities. As the novel progresses, Bella unconsciously learns how to make difficult choices and accept their consequences.

* Edward Cullen - Edward is a 109-year-old vampire who was transformed by Carlisle Cullen when he was near death with Spanish flu in 1918. He has a supernatural gift for reading people's minds. Since Edward's transformation into a vampire, he had never fallen in love nor believed that he needed to. He later realizes that his existence was completely pointless and without an aim. In Bella he finds compassion, love, acceptance and care. His character was also influenced by Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre..

* James - James is a vampire with an unusual ability to track people. When the Cullens try to protect Bella, James figures she will be the biggest hunt of his life. * Jacob Black - Young Jacob Black may be Bella's favorite non-vampire friend. He is a Quileute Indian and lives on La Push reservation, not far from Forks. Upon first meeting, Bella is charmed and impressed by Jacob in many ways. Jacob learns that he is similar to Bella in many ways. Her father Charlie sees that Jacob is safe boyfriend material, the kind of guy he would approve her dating. * Carlisle Cullen - Carlisle is a handsome, conscientious doctor. As patriarch of the Cullen clan, Carlisle started the practice of a 'vegetarian' (no human) diet. As a human in the 17th century, Carlisle was the son of an anti-'evil-being' pastor.