Twilight is a young-adult vampire-romance
novel by author Stephenie Meyer. Twilight was initially rejected by 14
agents, but became an instant bestseller when published originally in
hardback in 2005, debuting at #5 on the New York Times Best Seller
list within a month of its release and later peaking at #1. That same
year, Twilight was named one of Publishers Weekly's Best Children's
Books of 2005. The novel was also the biggest selling book of 2008 and,
to date, has sold 17 million copies worldwide, spent over 91 weeks on
the New York Times Best Seller list, and been translated into 37
different languages.
The book was later than turned into a movie likewise the movie took
the world by storm, the first series was released in 2008 the second
installment, The Twilight Saga:
New Moon followed on November 20, 2009, breaking
box office records as the biggest midnight screening and opening day in
history, when it grossed an estimated $72.7 million in its first day
of release. The Twilight Saga:
Eclipse is scheduled for release on June 30, 2010
and is the first Twilight film scheduled to be released in IMAX, and an
adaptation of Breaking Dawn is projected to begin shooting in the fall
of 2010; with a November 18, 2011 release date.
It is the first book of the
Twilight series, and introduces
seventeen-year-old Isabella "Bella" Swan, who moves from Phoenix,
Arizona to Forks, Washington and finds her life in danger when she falls
in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. Their relationship is disturbed
when another vampire coven arrives in Forks. James, a tracker vampire
who is intrigued by the Cullen’s' relationship with a human, wants to
hunt Bella for sport.
The story is best described by the cover of the book as the writer
Stephenie Meyer has stated that the apple on the
cover represents the forbidden fruit from the Book of Genesis. It
symbolizes Bella and Edward's love, which is forbidden, similar to the
fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, as is implied by the
quote from Genesis 2:17 that is quoted at the beginning of the book. It
also represents Bella's knowledge of what good and evil are, and the
choice that she has in partaking of the "forbidden fruit", Edward, or
choosing not to see him.