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- Herausgeber: FINN Books Edition FireFly
- Kategorie: Gesellschafts- und Liebesromane
- Sprache: Englisch
San Francisco, late 1971. Quiet Marvin, a reclusive man in his early 40s, has been convicted of murder. He is sent to the infamous Alcatraz prison, where he ends up on death row awaiting execution. Unlike his fellow inmates, he hopelessly accepts the difficult situation, even though he knows that he is innocent. One day when he receives a mysterious letter from a young girl, he is very surprised. Nevertheless, he begins a pen pal relationship with the shy Shiloh, which gradually grows in deep trust and an inexplicable sense of belonging. But Shiloh seems to be hiding something from Marvin that is slowly threatening to come to light... The moving novel describes the exchange of letters between two lonely people who are connected in their souls and can thus cope with even the most difficult situations and circumstances.
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Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023
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Elias J. Connor
Letters from an angel
Inhaltsverzeichnis
Dedication
Prolog
Chapter 1 - Bolinas, November 15, 1971
Chapter 2 - San Francisco, November 22, 1971
Chapter 3 - Bolinas, November 28, 1971
Chapter 4 - San Francisco, December 24, 1971
Chapter 5 - Bolinas, January 13, 1972
Chapter 6 - San Francisco, January 22, 1972
Chapter 7 - Bolinas, February 1, 1972
Chapter 8 - San Francisco, February 8, 1972
Chapter 9 - Bolinas, February 15, 1972
Chapter 10 - San Francisco, February 19, 1972
Chapter 11 - Bolinas, February 24, 1972
Chapter 12 - San Francisco, February 28, 1972
Chapter 13 - Bolinas, March 14, 1972
Chapter 14 - San Francisco, March 23, 1972
Chapter 15 - Bolinas, March 29, 1972
Chapter 16 - San Francisco, April 3, 1972
Chapter 17 - Bolinas, April 11, 1972
Chapter 18 - San Francisco, May 12, 1972
Chapter 19 - Bolinas, May 21, 1972
Chapter 20 - San Francisco, May 29, 1972
Chapter 21 - Bolinas, June 6, 1972
Chapter 22 - San Francisco, June 13, 1972
Chapter 23 - Bolinas, June 22, 1972
Chapter 24 - San Francisco, June 27, 1972
Chapter 25 - Bolinas, July 19, 1972
Chapter 26 - San Francisco, September 1, 1972
Chapter 27 - Bolinas, September 7, 1972
Chapter 28 - San Francisco, September 15, 1972
Chapter 29 - Bolinas, September 26, 1972
Chapter 30 - San Francisco, October 1, 1972
Chapter 31 - Bolinas, October 6, 1972
Epilogue
About the Author Elias J. Connor
Impressum
Dedication
For Jana.
You are the best thing that has ever happened to me in my life.
Thank you for letting me be by your side.
Prolog
The sun was just going down. A thick fog spread over the bay, a few meters high. When you stood on one of the bridges, it looked as if you were standing on an endless blanket of clouds. Above you have dusk, and below you nothing but white clouds. A sight that you will certainly not forget once you have seen it.
If you add to that the rushing of the water, the smell of salt in the air and the sound of some ship's horns from boats passing under the blanket of fog, then it may be a paradise place.
It was warm tonight. The pillars of the Golden Gate Bridge towered a few feet above the fog, and in the distance the sounds of seals could be heard, gathered below Pier 39 on San Francisco Bay.
The summer was slowly coming to an end, the summer hustle and bustle in the city had already passed its peak for weeks, and so it was relatively quiet that evening. There weren't many tourists here anymore at that time, and the locals went about their daily business.
The small, gray boat moved across the water at a remarkable speed. It rocked in the waves, occasionally cornering or dodging a rock sticking out of the sea. You couldn't tell clearly which way it was going. The fog may also have made it difficult for the captain to see.
After a while the boat headed for a small, nondescript island. Somehow it seemed as if the evening sunlight would be shielded by this island. It was gloomy and dark. No lights were on anywhere, and the tall, square stone structure on the island was barely visible.
The sun had already dropped below the horizon when the boat docked. Just as unreal as the mist that blanketed the bay each evening, it vanished as soon as the sun had set.
Two men who were apparently already on the island tied the boat up. Then three men climbed out over a plank. In tow they had another man - about 35 to 40 years old, with balding hair and a conspicuously small, flat nose. He was wearing a brown suit.
It was only on closer inspection that one could discover that the three other men were holding him down quite ruthlessly and that he was apparently wearing handcuffs that connected his two arms behind his back.
Together the men entered the building while the small boat cast off and left the island in the middle of San Francisco Bay for the mainland.
Alcatraz.
The small island had the most notorious reputation here in San Francisco. Alcatraz wasn't just a prison island, it was the most controlled prison in the United States. Only the most serious cases ended up here.
The man in the nondescript suit was led down a long corridor into the maximum security area.
There was a small, locked office at the beginning of the corridor. When the guard unlocked the man was ushered in and made to sit down.
"Can you take my handcuffs off now?" the man said in his sonorous, deep, raspy voice.
The guards didn't answer. One of them sat down opposite the man while the other two got out of his pockets everything he had with him - a nearly empty wallet, papers, two packs of Marlboro cigarettes, a small bottle of whiskey, a lighter and handkerchiefs.
"Is that all you have with you?" one of the guards wanted to know. "Have you hidden other things - drugs or something?"
"Undress me and search me," the man scolded, annoyed. "I have nothing else with me."
The guard on the chair in front of the desk looked at the prisoner gravely.
"You know why you're here, Marvin Cooper?"
The prisoner clasped his hands over his head and groaned.
"It's useless anyway," he said softly. "You don't believe me, any more than the judge believed me."
"You are sentenced to death for murder," said the guard. "It is only a matter of time before you will be executed."
The other two men then led the prisoner out of the office.
The corridor was flooded with white light hanging from the ceiling. In the maximum security wing, the cells were arranged along another, long corridor. The man was put into one of them and the barred door locked.
So he sat there now. Guards kept coming and pacing in front of the cell. The man kept hearing the screams and shouts of his fellow inmates, who cursed everything and everyone. Most of the time, however, they cursed that they were unfairly here.
The man didn't care. He sat still in his cell, no thought in his head, no feeling of fear or displeasure in his body. The man was completely blank.
Apathetically he looked at the white wall behind him.
Here he was now. And he knew that this was the end of him - for now and forever.
Chapter 1 - Bolinas, November 15, 1971
Hello foreign friend,
i know you don't know me But I send you - wherever you are - many greetings for Christmas.
Yes, it still has to be a while before the windows are decorated and the Christmas trees are put up. But I didn't want to wait and send this letter as soon as possible. Because I always think that the sooner you do something, the sooner you will reach your goal.
My goal is to wish you a Merry Christmas.
I found your name in a list. A week ago we started a new project at school. Our teacher gave us 20 names of people who live alone somewhere and are lonely. Everyone in our class was allowed to choose a name without knowing who that person is or where they live. All we got were the names.
Your name - Marvin - caught my eye immediately. As a young child, I had a dog who went by the name of Marvin. He was my best friend. When I found your name on the list I thought it was a good omen and wanted to write to you. A friend was also interested in your name, but I finally got the nod.
May I tell you who I am? Because it would be nice if you knew who is sending you this Christmas greeting.
My name is Shiloh Miller. I am 12 years old and in junior high school. I live on the west coast of the USA, north of San Francisco.
I love listening to music. I would have loved to learn an instrument myself, preferably the piano, but unfortunately my mom couldn't afford it.
I like dogs very much. I used to have a dog myself, but that was a while ago. I was very young then.
I like nature very much. I often spend hours in the woods nearby, sitting on a bench there. I listen to the wind and watch the trees sway back and forth. I often look up at the sky and imagine I'm floating on a cloud. Sometimes I just look at the clouds and see the shapes they make.
In my class, not many classmates like me because I have an unusual taste in music. I love classical music – choral music or piano concertos. Even for a girl like me, that's unusual, I think. I still have a few girlfriends.
You are probably, like most on the list, an elderly person whose children may have long since left home. Maybe you have grandchildren, but they don't come to visit. Perhaps you live in a home for the elderly.
However, the teacher told us that behind each name on the list is a lonely person who will most likely be alone at Christmas and may not have loved ones.
