Oceans Apart [Mass Market Paperback]

Karen Kingsbury (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2008

A night that changed everything . . .

Eight years ago, during a stormy weekend on the shores of Hawaii, Connor Evans broke his vows. He's kept his secret, until the woman from Connor's past dies, leaving behind a young son . . . Michele never thought her family was perfect, but they were happy. Now her family is on the brink of destruction. Will a lonely child help bridge the distance between them—before it's too late?

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

A riveting story of secret sin and the healing power of forgiveness

Airline pilot Connor Evans and his wife, Michele, seem to be the perfect couple living what looks like a perfect life. Then a plane goes down in the Pacific Ocean. One of the casualties is Kiahna Siefert, a flight attendant Connor knew well. Too well. Kiahna’s will is very clear: before her seven-year-old son, Max, can be turned over to the state, he must spend the summer with the father he’s never met, the father who doesn’t know he exists: Connor Evans.

Now will the presence of one lonely child and the truth he represents destroy Connor’s family ? Or is it possible that healing and hope might come in the shape of a seven-year-old boy? This title is also available as an unabridged Audio Pages® CD. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Karen Kingsbury is a USA Today and New York Times bestselling author. She has penned more than thirty titles, including Between Sundays and Even Now. With nearly 5 million copies of her books in print, she is quickly becoming one of America's favorite inspirational authors. She lives in Washington state with her husband, Don, and their six children.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Mass Market Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: Avon (March 25, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061456713
• ISBN-13: 978-0061456718
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #37 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Women's Fiction > Domestic Life
  • #80 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Religion & Spirituality > Fiction > General

More About the Author

USA Today and New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury is America's #1 inspirational novelist. There are nearly 20 million copies of her award-winning books in print, including several million copies sold in the past year. Karen has written more than 50 novels, ten of which have hit #1 on national lists.

Karen's newest novel, Unlocked, released Oct. 12 and has stayed in Amazon's top fifty for the past few weeks. Unlocked debuted at No. 3 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. Another recent and popular title of Karen's is Shades of Blue - the story of a 28-year-old ad executive who is six weeks away from marrying the girl he loves. But as he prepares for his wedding, something brings up his past girlfriend - a girl he dated in high school. He realizes he can't go forward and say, "I do," until he goes back to Holden Beach, finds the girl he loved back then, and tell her he's sorry.

Karen's novel Like Dandelion Dust is the subject of a major motion picture currently in theaters. Like Dandelion Dust stars Academy Award winning Mira Sorvino and Barry Pepper, along with Cole Hauser and Maxwell Perry Cotton. The film has received more than 30 awards in the Film Festival Circuit including numerous Best Picture awards. Several of Karen's books are currently under theatrical development.

Karen's most recent series - the Above the Line Series, which began with Take One, in March, 2009 and wrapped up in June, 2010 with Take Four. The series is about two producers looking to change the world with the power of film. The Above the Line series also includes Karen's popular characters from the fictitious Baxter Family. The Baxters were first introduced to readers through the five-book Redemption series, and then the five-book Firstborn series, and finally the four-book Sunrise series.

Dubbed by Time Magazine as the Queen of Christian Fiction, Karen has also been a featured guest on the Today Show, Fox News, USA Today, and numerous other television programs and magazines. Her fiction has made her one of the country's favorite storytellers. Others of her emotionally gripping titles include the 9-11 Series, Even Now, Ever After, and Between Sundays.

Karen is also a public speaker, reaching more than 100,000 women annually through various national events. Karen and her husband, Don, live in the Pacific Northwest with their six children, three of whom are adopted from Haiti.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very moving book., March 6, 2005

By 

M. E. Newell (Georgia, United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oceans Apart (Paperback)

Conner and Michele Evans seem like the couple that have it all. Great home, loving daughters and their whole lives ahead of them. But Conner has something that he has been hiding from Michele. Seven years ago he had an affair that resulted in a child, Max. Now Max is alone in the world and he needs a family. But is the Evans family it?
This was the first book that I read by Karen Kingsbury and I really enjoyed it. Ms. Kingsbury gave real emotions to her characters. She also showed about faith and forgiveness and how it is important to ones life. Overall, I would be interested in reading more from Karen Kingsbury.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An achingly realistic and touching tale about forgiveness and second chances, August 23, 2005

By 

FaithfulReader.com (New York, New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Oceans Apart (Paperback)

I have good news for readers who are Karen Kingsbury fans, and even better news for readers who are not: this is far and away the best novel I've read by this bestselling author of something like 30 books. It's a powerful story of forgiveness, reconciliation and grace, wrapped up in a genuine page-turner. And if you've never read Kingsbury before, this is the one to start with.

The promotional material from Zondervan, including the synopsis on the back cover, refers to the "perfect" life of airline captain Connor Evans and his wife, Michele, and their two daughters. Frankly, that word is an immediate turn-off for me; it implies shallow, stereotyped characters, an overdone scenario, and unimaginative writing. If I hadn't been assigned to read this book, I probably would have ignored it.

The Evanses may have a decent and privileged life, but it's not a perfect life, the kind populated with cardboard characters. These are real people who happen to have it pretty good until an airline crash in the Pacific shakes things up for them in Florida. That's when Connor discovers that an indiscretion years earlier resulted in more than a good time. He has a son, and he has a choice: forget about him and pretend the one-night stand with the boy's mother never happened, or come clean with his wife, meet his son, Max, for the first time, and make Max a part of their family, at least temporarily.

One of the elements that sets this book apart is the light hand the author uses throughout. She skillfully weaves in the faith message and allows the story to unfold naturally. It's not until late in the book that we learn the circumstances that led to Connor's unfaithfulness; it would have been so easy, and ultimately so unsatisfying to the reader, to place those scenes early on in the book in an effort to simply get them out of the way. Nothing about OCEANS APART feels "wrong"; even the Florida setting rings true, which isn't always the case in the hands of non-native writers.

The forgiveness theme in particular never feels forced or superficial. So much forgiveness is needed on so many levels, and Kingsbury lets the process that leads to forgiveness develop over time. Equally impressive is the way she handles the theme of "second chances," and not just with regard to the obvious second chance that Connor needs. All of this reflects a multilayered effort on the author's part, and one that she carries off well.

Readers who have found some of Kingsbury's plots to be implausible --- ONE TUESDAY MORNING and its sequel, BEYOND TUESDAY MORNING, come to mind --- should be pleasantly surprised with the achingly realistic story line in OCEANS APART. And the characters --- you just may find yourself loving Max and respecting each of the major characters, along with the decisions they end up making.

OCEANS APART won the ECPA Gold Medallion Award for fiction, which means it was selected as the best novel of 2004 by both retailers and a panel of independent judges. It's certainly the best, or among the best, from Kingsbury, and the accolades it has received should encourage her to maintain the higher standard she set for herself with this book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Great Novel by Kingsbury, October 23, 2005

By 

Nancy Bressan "book zealot" (Walsenburg, CO USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Oceans Apart (Paperback)

Kingsbury makes you think about how you would react about life situations. After reading one of her books, you put your faith and beliefs in check. As with all of her books, I leave several tear soaked pages and pass them on to my daughters to read, who in turn pass them on to their friends, who pass them on to their mothers!! It's a great way to share God's love.