The Messenger, released in the United States as I Am 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 story is written from the perspective of the protagonist, taxi driver Ed Kennedy, whose journey begins after he stops a robbery and receives a playing card in the mail. Plot The protagonist is Ed Kennedy, an uninspired nineteen-year-old Australian taxi driver. Ed laments his mediocre life and strained relationship with his mother, as his father died recently and left Ed with only his dog, the Doorman, but does nothing to improve his situation, instead preferring to continue living alone and 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 whom Ed is in love with, although she does not reciprocate. After accidentally foiling a robbery he is proclaimed a hero by the public, though the robber leaves him a warning that he sees "a dead man" when he looks at Ed before being taken away by police. One night, he receives a small unmarked envelope, inside of which is an Ace of Diamonds with three addresses and times of day written on them. His friends deny involvement, so Ed investigates the three addresses. Ed arrives at the first address at midnight, and witnesses a man raping his wife while their daughter cries on the porch. The second corresponds to a senile widow named Milla who lives alone, and the third is the address of a young girl named Sophie who runs barefoot every morning but still cannot win at her track meets. Realizing that the sender of the cards intends for Ed to involve himself with the three people, Ed researches Milla's history and discovers that she is waiting for her husband Jimmy, who died sixty years ago during World War II, so he pretends to be Jimmy and comes to read to her weekly. For Sophie, he raises her spirits by giving her an empty shoe box to encourage her to try running barefoot at her next competition; although she loses again, she still finds pride in her achievement. Ed is initially unsure how to approach the rapist, until he receives a gun in the mail with one bullet, indicating he is to shoot the man.Ed uses