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Twilight BooksThe Twilight books have turned a generation of teens into vampire-loving romantics. The four fantasy books from US author Stephenie Meyer document the relationship between teenager Bella Swan and her vampire boyfriend Edward Cullen.
Robert Pattinson as Edward Cullen and Kristen Stewart as Bella Swan in a scene from the 2008 movie Twilight The Twilight books have sold more than 42 million copies
worldwide, proving particularly popular among teenage girls. They are
also the subject of four blockbuster movies, the first of which, the Twilight movie, was released in November 2008.
Here is a synopsis of the four Twilight books
Twilight (2005)
Bella Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona, to the rainy town of Forks, Washington, to live with her dad. On her first day at school, she notices the Cullen siblings sitting in the canteen and finds herself drawn to the pale and beautiful Edward. However, much to her dismay, Edward seems repulsed
by her. He is, in fact, trying to fight the urge to resist drinking her
blood because he finds it so appealing. In time, his true feelings
become apparent and he and Bella fall deeply in love.
Danger in this, the first of the Twilight
books, comes in the form of a pair of vampires, who happen across the
Cullens one night. One of them is an expert tracker called James
and when Edward stops him from attacking Bella, he decides to track her
down. The Cullens do their best to protect Bella but when James calls
her to say he has her mother, she gives them to slip to meet him alone.
James tries to kill Bella but Edward appears at the last minute to save Bella’s life.
New Moon (2006)
The second of the Twilight books begins with Bella’s 18th birthday party. She is opening a gift when she gets a paper cut and is almost attacked by Jasper,
a member of the Cullen family who still has trouble resisting the urge
to drink human blood. Edward realizes that as long as he remains with
Bella, her life will always be in danger. So he leaves her for her own protection, taking the entire Cullen family with him.
Bella is heartbroken by Edward’s departure and seeks comfort in the company of her new best friend, Jacob Black.
She realizes that whenever she does something dangerous, she can hear
Edward’s voice in her head. So she convinces Jacob to repair a pair of
old motorbike so she can ride one of them - which results in several
accidents.
When Bella almost drowns after diving off a cliff, Alice Cullen
has a vision of her and mistakenly thinks she has died. Word reaches
Edward of Bella’s demise and he goes to Italy to convince the powerful Volturi
family to murder him (as it’s almost impossible for vampires to kill themselves).
Alice and Bella rush to Italy to stop him. They
succeed in saving Edward’s life. But the Volturi family insist that
since no human is allowed to know of the existence of vampires, Bella
must be killed or transformed into a vampire.
The second of the Twilight books ends with the Cullen family voting in favor of
transforming Bella into a vampire after she graduates from high school, much to Edward's dismay.
Eclipse (2007)
In the third of the four Twilight
books, the
vampire Victoria is planning to avenge the death of her partner, James
(who Edward murdered to save Bella in the Twilight novel) -
by killing Bella. She has bred a gang of newborn vampires in the nearby
city of Seattle and is
mounting an attack against the Cullens. The Cullens join forces with the local team of werewolves, who include Bella’s friend Jacob, to defend against the attack.
On
the morning of the attack Jacob is heartbroken to learn that Bella and Edward plan to marry
and that Bella is to become a vampire. He threatens to sacrifice himself in the fight and Bella kisses him to make him change his mind. When she kisses him, she realizes she’s in love with him too.
The Cullens and werewolves destroy Victoria and her army of vampires but Jacob is seriously injured in the fight. Bella admits to him that she loves him but that she loves Edward more. At the end of this, the third of the Twilight
books, Jacob transforms into a wolf and runs away to escape the pain of
Bella’s rejection, as well as her decision to become a vampire.
Breaking Dawn (2008)
The fourth of the Twilight books book is divided into three parts. In the first part Bella and Edward get married in a lavish wedding at the Cullen mansion and go to a private island off the coast of Brazil for their honeymoon. There they make love for the first time and Bella becomes pregnant. Horrified, Edward whisks her home to have an abortion but she insists on keeping her baby and enlists the support of Rosalie Cullen, who has always longed for her own child.
The second part of the book is told from the perspective of Bella’s werewolf friend Jacob Black. When the werewolves plan to murder Bella
and her unborn child (because the child poses a threat to the safety of
the local human population) Jacob leaves them to start a pack of
their own, committed to protecting Bella and the Cullen family.
Jacob and Edward are both distressed at Bella’s decision to go through with the pregnancy and are forced to stand by as her life slips away.
Bella almost dies giving birth and Edward has to transform her into a
vampire to save her life. Jacob imprints on her baby, a little girl
called Renesmee, which means he finds his soul mate in her and is committed to her forever more.
In the third part of Breaking Dawn, Bella awakes as a vampire and is thrilled by her newfound strength, grace and beauty. She exercises tremendous restraint in resisting the urge to drink human blood so she can be around her
half-human child and her human father. Her happiness is short-lived,
however.
A
vampire sees Renesmee and suspects she is an immortal child – a human
child transformed into a vampire – something forbidden by Volturi
law. She reports the child to the Volturi, who have already been
seeking an excuse to wipe out the family. They perceive the Cullens as a threat to their dominance
and power. The Cullens enlist the help of their friends to convince the
Volturi that Renesmee is not an immortal child but one naturally
conceived.
Seeing they are outnumbered, the Volturi retreat
eventually, leaving Bella, Edward and Renesmee to live together forever more.
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