By: Nicholas Sparks
Narrator: Holter Graham
Random House Audio
ISBN: 978-0593449592
Publisher: Random House
Publication Date: 09/24/2024
Format: Other
My Rating: 5 Stars + (ARC)
From the acclaimed author of The Longest Ride and The Notebook comes an emotional, powerful novel about wondering if we can change—or even make our peace with—the path we’ve taken.
Tanner Hughes was raised by his grandparents, following in his grandfather’s military footsteps to become an Army Ranger. His whole life has been spent abroad, and he is the proverbial rolling stone . . . happiest when off on his next adventure, zero desire to settle down. But when his grandmother passes away, her last words to him are: find where you belong. She also drops a bombshell, telling him the name of the father he never knew—and where he might be found.
Tanner is due at his next posting soon, but his curiosity is piqued, and he sets out for Asheboro, North Carolina, to ask around. He’s been in town less than twenty-four hours when he meets Kaitlyn Cooper, a doctor and single mom. They both feel an immediate connection; Tanner knows Kaitlyn has a story to tell, and he wants to hear it. For Kaitlyn, Tanner is mysterious, exciting—and possibly leaving in just a few weeks.
Meanwhile, nearby, eighty-three-year-old Jasper lives alone in a cabin bordering a national forest. With only his old dog Arlo for company, he lives quietly, haunted by a tragic accident that took place decades before. When he hears rumors that a white deer has been spotted in the forest—a creature of legend that inspired his father and grandfather—he becomes obsessed with protecting the deer from poachers.
As these characters’ fates orbit closer together, none of them is expecting a miracle . . . but that may be exactly what is about to alter their futures forever.
Praise
“The romance between Tanner and the doctor sizzles, and Sparks is a master at creating fully developed, sympathetic characters with complete and compelling backstories. Readers will be drawn into this touching story of hope, faith, and love, and Spark’s many fans will find just what they’re looking for.”
—Booklist, starred review
“Bestseller Sparks brings all the emotion fans expect in his heart-tugging latest. . . . Sparks enriches Kaitlyn and Tanner’s love story with a striking supporting cast, especially Kaitlyn’s kids, Casey and Mitch, and an elderly neighbor named Jasper. The mystery of Tanner’s parentage finally unravels at the story’s end, delivering an emotionally satisfying finale. This is sure to be another hit for Sparks.”
—Publishers Weekly
“[Sparks] once again delivers an uplifting, heartfelt story emblematic of his literary trademarks: a North Carolina setting, strong romantic elements, and a surprise, bittersweet ending. . . . Sparks is a deeply sensitive and compassionate writer who skillfully unravels a complex, multi-generational story. Readers will be swept up in another emotionally resonant, adventurous journey that maps the peaks and valleys of human existence and how love, in its many forms, can miraculously heal loss and loneliness, grief and grave uncertainty. . . . Sparks’s compassionately drawn, multi-generational story brings together—and inspires hope in—three lost souls.”—Shelf Awareness
About the Author
Photo credit: Paulo Salud
Nicholas Sparks is one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. All of his books have been New York Times bestsellers, with over 105 million copies sold worldwide, in more than 50 languages, including over 75 million copies in the United States alone.
Sparks wrote one of his best-known stories, The Notebook, over a period of six months at age 28. It was published in 1996 and he followed with the novels Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), True Believer (2005) and its sequel, At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), The Lucky One (2008), The Last Song (2009), Safe Haven (2010), The Best of Me (2011), The Longest Ride (2013), See Me (2015), Two by Two (2016), Every Breath (2018), The Return (2020), and The Wish (2021) as well as the 2004 non-fiction memoir Three Weeks With My Brother, co-written with his brother Micah. His twenty-third novel, Dreamland, was published on September 20, 2022.
Film adaptations of Nicholas Sparks novels, including The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven (on all of which he served as a producer), The Lucky One, Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe, Dear John and The Last Song, have had a cumulative worldwide gross of over three-quarters of a billion dollars. The Notebook has also been adapted into a musical, featuring music and lyrics by Ingrid Michaelson.
Sparks lives in North Carolina. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually. He co-founded The Epiphany School in New Bern, North Carolina in 2006. As a former full scholarship athlete (he still holds a track and field record at the University of Notre Dame) he also spent four years coaching track and field athletes at the local public high school. In 2009, the team he coached at New Bern High School set a World Junior Indoor Record in the 4×400 meters, as well as US High School National Records in the 800 Medley and 1600 Medley. Click to watch the Runner’s World video with Nicholas.
The Nicholas Sparks Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, was founded in 2011, to provide scholarships and fund educational programs for underprivileged and disadvantaged youth. Between the foundation, and the personal gifts of the Sparks family, more than $15 million dollars have been distributed to deserving charities, scholarship programs, and projects. Because the Sparks family covers all operational expenses of the foundation, 100% of donations are devoted to programs.
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