Overview from Barnes and Noble:
In the tradition of his beloved first novel, The Notebook, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with the remarkable story of two couples whose lives intersect in profound and surprising ways.
Ira Levinson is in trouble. Ninety-one years old and stranded and injured after a car crash, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together - how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can't possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.
A few miles away, at a local bull-riding event, a Wake Forest College senior's life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward — even life and death - loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans — a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he's keeping doesn't destroy it first.
Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.
My thoughts:
I usually listen to Nicholas Sparks instead of reading his books on my own. They flow easily and for awhile I had felt that they all had a sort of sameness to them. I was listening and waiting for when someone would make a sacrifice or die in order to allow another character to go on, but this time was a bit different. There were sacrifices and heartache, but the book flowed differently and came together in a different way. It took quite some time before Ira and Ruth intersected with Sophia and Luke and even then, things went a bit differently than I thought they would.
There were all sorts of questions and musings about life. Regrets, heartache, desires for the future, obligations for the present, dangers and perceived obligations all mingled together to form the lives of these four people and those around them. Jumping back and forth from Ira and his image of Ruth as they relived their life together from meeting and marriage, war and business, work and togetherness, dreams and heartaches and then Luke and Sophia as they got to know each other with their different backgrounds and future plans, falling in love but wondering if it could work between and art history major from New Jersey and a rancher and rodeo cowboy from North Carolina.
Everyone has some secrets and comes with baggage from the past, but what matters is how you go into the future together. This was the case for both Ira and Ruth and their long marriage and Luke and Sophia and their new relationship.
Ira Levinson is in trouble. Ninety-one years old and stranded and injured after a car crash, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together - how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can't possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.
A few miles away, at a local bull-riding event, a Wake Forest College senior's life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward — even life and death - loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans — a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he's keeping doesn't destroy it first.
Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.
My thoughts:
I usually listen to Nicholas Sparks instead of reading his books on my own. They flow easily and for awhile I had felt that they all had a sort of sameness to them. I was listening and waiting for when someone would make a sacrifice or die in order to allow another character to go on, but this time was a bit different. There were sacrifices and heartache, but the book flowed differently and came together in a different way. It took quite some time before Ira and Ruth intersected with Sophia and Luke and even then, things went a bit differently than I thought they would.
There were all sorts of questions and musings about life. Regrets, heartache, desires for the future, obligations for the present, dangers and perceived obligations all mingled together to form the lives of these four people and those around them. Jumping back and forth from Ira and his image of Ruth as they relived their life together from meeting and marriage, war and business, work and togetherness, dreams and heartaches and then Luke and Sophia as they got to know each other with their different backgrounds and future plans, falling in love but wondering if it could work between and art history major from New Jersey and a rancher and rodeo cowboy from North Carolina.
Everyone has some secrets and comes with baggage from the past, but what matters is how you go into the future together. This was the case for both Ira and Ruth and their long marriage and Luke and Sophia and their new relationship.
Product Details
- ISBN-13: 9781455520633
- Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
- Publication date: 9/30/2014
- Format: Mass Market Paperback
- Pages: 496
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