Martina Insanti
bought the novel “
Strangers on a Train
” by Patricia Highsmith, expecting to find a murder exchange story.
However, she was surprised when, upon opening the book, she not only found the beginning of that story but also that of another, much more personal one.
Inside his 1950 edition of the classic there was a letter dated “Thursday the 30th.”
No more, no less: "Thursday the 30th."
What month?
Which year?
It is not known.
Fortunately, Martina did not want to keep her confusion to herself.
From her X account (@comittatus) she shared a photo of the letter and her story quickly went viral.
“I bought a used book and I saw that it had this letter inside, I read it and the name of the person signing sounded familiar to me.
It turns out that a friend's grandmother wrote it.
Used books and the twists and turns of life
,” the young woman commented next to the image.
Asked about the discovery, the student studying literature at the National University of Mar del Plata told Clarín that she acquired the book through a batch of used texts from a Mar del Plata house that is selling its entire library.
The letter reads: “Thursday the 30th. Dear
Delia
.
I don't deserve an apology, but I ask for one.
Thank you so much.
I take advantage of the librarian's good disposition to return the book to you.
I have given up the night hours.
They were getting heavier and heavier and you have to go there with a special disposition.
Do you teach?
I lost track of you until today.
See you soon.
Sorry (if possible).”
The signature, by “
María Angélica Álvarez
”.
The author of the message was a professor of European Literature and Culture at the same university where Martina studies, who - according to the student - died in 2017. And, since she is currently studying literature, as soon as she read her name she thought she recognized it.
She thought she had seen him somewhere
.
The message was an apology.
Photo: X @comittatus
“My friend has lived in Spain for years and we lost touch a bit, but our parents still talk and see each other from time to time and from them I knew that his grandmother was involved - in something - in my career (I didn't get to take anything with her ),” Insanti said.
Knowing this, she searched the Internet in search of information related to her studies and soon realized something that left her speechless: “
I discovered that I have on Google Drive pdfs of texts written by her that had been given to me as mandatory bibliography when I took the subject she taught in college!
”.
To reconfirm it, Martina asked her friend's parents if the teacher was the author of the letter and they told her yes.
“
Crazy
,” concludes the young woman.
And so part of the story closes.
The writing she found by chance in "Strangers on a Train" was done by someone she knew.
Although, nobility obliges, the same cannot be said of the other fundamental part of the story.
The one closely related to the content of the letter.
In front of the National University of Mar del Plata.
Unintentionally, fate and social networks paid tribute to Highsmith and
suspense
in general.
As in many mystery texts, the half-information, the simple beginning of an exchange of letters, generated an intrigue that grew minute by minute.
How else does a tweet like Martina's get 14 thousand likes in one day?
Did Delia forgive María Angélica?
Did María Angélica meet Delia again?
Did Delia receive the book returned by María?
Unanswered questions from another story that, for now, also leave this article unfinished.