A Bend in the Road (Turtleback School & Library Binding Edition) [Library Binding]

Nicholas Sparks (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 1, 2002

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sweet, accessible, uplifting and predictable, the latest love story from Sparks (The Notebook) leaves the reader with just one burning question: Why is this consummate beach book being published in the fall? The nearly thwarted but eventually triumphant romance of deputy sheriff Miles Ryan and second-grade teacher Sarah Andrews goes down as easily as marshmallow fluff and offers about as much real nourishment. Miles's high school sweetheart, Missy, was killed in an unsolved hit and run accident, leaving him to raise their son, Jonah, in New Bern, N.C. Sarah's politically ambitious husband, Michael, dumped her when her ovaries proved inactive, and she fled to New Bern to teach, and love, other people's kids. Miles and Sarah meet at a parent-teacher conference, and the sparks fly. But there's a fly in the ointment as well; an italicized voice threaded among the happy chapters alerts us that Missy's death was caused by someone whose identity, if revealed, could destroy Miles and Sarah's newfound joy. In Sparks's heaven, clouds exist to make silver linings look the brighter. As tough truth shadows their landscape, Miles and Sarah find depths within themselves, and their rekindled light illumines all. New Bern becomes a city of the reborn. Charlie Curtis, Miles's stickler boss, learns to bend; Missy's aimless killer morphs into a healer; and Jonah once again knows a mother's love. The opposite of edgy, with simple sentences and soft-pedaled sex, Sparks's plain vanilla morality will doubtless sell like ice cream on a steamy day. (Sept.)Forecast: Major television and print advertising and an 18-city author tour will broadcast Sparks's latest from the rooftops; expect instant bestsellerdom.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

A man loses his wife, lives in a haze, and then finds healing new love until the secrets start popping. nonfiction
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Library Binding: 368 pages
• Publisher: Turtleback (July 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1417663936
• ISBN-13: 978-1417663934
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 3.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (358 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,072,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Nicholas Charles Sparks was born in Omaha, Nebraska on December 31, 1965, the second son of Patrick Michael (1942-1996) and Jill Emma Marie (Thoene) Sparks (1942-1989). His siblings are Michael Earl Sparks (b. Dec. 1964), and Danielle Sparks (b. Dec. 1966, d. June, 2000). As a child, he lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California at the age of eight. His father was a professor, his mother a homemaker, then optometrist's assistant. He lived in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.
After breaking the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985 as a freshman (a record which still stands), he was injured and spent the summer recovering. During that summer, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.
He and his wife Catherine, who met on spring break in 1988, were married in July, 1989. While living in Sacramento, he wrote his second novel that same year, though again, it wasn't published. He worked a variety of jobs over the next three years, including real estate appraisal, waiting tables, selling dental products by phone, and started his own small manufacturing business which struggled from the beginning. In 1990, he collaborated on a book with Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist and it was published by Feather Publishing before later being picked up by Random House. (It was recently re-issued by Hay House Books.) Though it received scant publicity, sales topped 50,000 copies in the first year of release.
He began selling pharmaceuticals and moved from Sacramento, California to North Carolina in 1992. In 1994, at the age of 28, he wrote The Notebook over a period of six months. In October, 1995, rights to The Notebook were sold to Warner Books. It was published in October, 1996, and he followed that with Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), and Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), Three Weeks with my Brother (2004), True Believer (2005) and At First Sight (2005) all with Warner Books. All were domestic and international best sellers and were translated into more than 35 languages. The movie version of Message in a Bottle was released in 1999, A Walk to Remember was released in 2002, and The Notebook was released in 2004. The average domestic box office gross per film was $56 million -- with another $100 million in DVD sales -- making the novels by Nicholas Sparks one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood.
The film rights to Nights in Rodanthe, True Believer and At First Sight have been sold, and Nicholas Sparks has written the screenplay for The Guardian, though he has not offered it for sale at this point.
He now has five children: Miles, Ryan, Landon, Lexie, and Savannah. He lives in North Carolina with his wife and children.
His ancestry is German, Czech, English, and Irish, he's 5'10" and weighs 180 lbs. He is an avid athlete who runs daily, lifts weights regularly, and competes in Tae Kwon Do. He attends church regularly and reads approximately 125 books a year. 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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

68 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sparks Delivers A Warm, Comforting Book for Romantics, October 15, 2001

By 

Antoinette Klein (Hoover, Alabama USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Bend in the Road (Hardcover)

If you love a love story, cry over broken hearts, and savor the coziness of small-town life, this book is tailor-made for you. I absolutely loved the story of Miles Ryan and his young son Jonah. Their wife and mother, Missy, is struck down by a hit-and-run driver, sending waves of loneliness through the lives of Miles and Jonah. Miles, as deputy sheriff of his small North Carolina town, feels doubly saddened by his failure to find his wife's killer and bring him to justice.

When Jonah has trouble at school, Sarah, Jonah's teacher, enters Miles' life and he begins to feel the stirrings of romance once again. Unfortunately, Sarah harbors a secret that destroyed her first marriage, and later discovers an amazing coincidence that shatters her new-found happiness with Miles and Jonah.

Written with passion and simplicity, this wonderful book also has tones of Mary Higgins Clark, as readers are able to spend several chapters in the mind of the as-yet-unknown driver of the car who killed Missy. The mystery of unveiling the hit-and-run driver coupled with the romance of Sarah and Miles makes this a comforting, curl-up-and-read pleasure for fall.

28 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What happens to your mind when your world falls apart, December 13, 2001

By 

Denise Bentley "Kelsana" (The California Redwoods) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Bend in the Road (Hardcover)

That is what Miles Ryan is up against after the death of his wife Missy by an unknown hit and run driver. Sparks has introduced the driver to us via a series of “italicized” chapters sporadically interspersed within the story as a whole. I enjoyed this aspect of the book and was always pleased to see another chapter by this individual who would reveal a little bit more about the person who perpetrated the crime.

Jonah Ryan is a little boy who has lost his mom and been allowed to slip back in his school work out of pity for his loss. Sarah, his new teacher makes friends with the Ryan family when she offers to work with him after school. Sarah and Miles make fast and easy friends, and Miles starts to have feelings that he thought would be long dead after losing Missy. It is when life is back on track for the first time in two years that his world is blown apart, and the madness begins.

This is an excellent book and I would rate it 4.5. Sparks’ books are warm and touching but the edge of madness is done well in this particular book. Something to watch for is the up and coming movie “A Walk to Remember” based on another Nicholas Sparks novel that just grabbed me by the heart. (...)

40 of 47 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars BEAUTIFULLY WRITTEN AND ENRICHED WITH STRONG EMOTION!, September 4, 2001

By 

Sandra D. Peters "Seagull Books" (Prince Edward Island, Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Bend in the Road (Audio CD)

This is, without question, the most beautifully written book from Sparks since "Message in a Bottle." It is a story of loss and new-found love. Miles is still grieving the loss of his wife in a hit-and-run accident, and struggling with the day-to-day challenges of raising a son on his own. When Sarah Andrews enters his life, Miles is filled with a variety of mixed emotions from guilt and a sense of betrayal to his dead wife, to the earthy qualities of love and passion for an attractive, alluring woman. Sarah, too, is dealing with her own demons of the past. Just as fate has blessed these two people with the chance to find happiness, solace and love together, and put the past to rest, their love and relationship are both tested to the limit.

This is a book fans of Sparks will not want to miss. Also highly recommended by another Nicholas - Nicholas Evans, is "Smoke Jumper." Both are excellent books, destined to become best sellers and deserving of five-star ratings.