Messenger

Messenger is a 2004 young adult dystopian novel by American author Lois Lowry, as is the third installment of The Giver Quartet, which began with the 1993 Newbery Medal-winning novel The Giver. The story takes place about eight years after the events of The Giver, and six years after the events of Gathering Blue, the preceding novel in the series. Characters from both of the previous books reappear in Messenger and give the novels a stronger continuity. Set in an isolated community known simply as Village, the novel focuses on a boy, Matty, who serves as message-bearer through the ominous and lethal Forest that surrounds the community. Plot Messenger is set about seven years after The Giver (1993) and Gathering Blue (2000). It is set in Village, a simple community which is inclusive of all who seek refuge within it. Matty now lives in Village with Kira's father, Christopher. Christopher is known in Village as Seerhis true name, which everyone in Village is given when they reach maturity. The Giver's Jonas is revealed to have survived and become Village's Leader. Matty acts as a messenger, being the only person able to traverse the surrounding Forest safely. Others receive Warnings from Forest, indicating that they will not be able to travel there again without being harmed. Matty discovered that he has a supernatural "gift" where he can heal living things by touching them, at the cost of depleting himself.