Nicholas Sparks: The Lucky One

Nicholas Sparks was born on December 31, 1965 in Omaha, Nebraska. As a child his family would move around a lot due to his father working on completing his graduate work. His family was financially unstable during his childhood also (Bio.com). In high school he attended Bella Vista High School in Fair Oaks, California and was nominated valedictorian when he graduated. Sparks was accepted into the University of Notre Dame on a scholarship for track and field (Walters). While at Notre Dame, Sparks met his future wife Catherine Cote (Bio.com). Sparks also held a record for a relay race from his freshmen year in college (Walters). Sparks had to give up track and field that summer because of Achilles tendonitis (Walters). During the summer though, Sparks wrote his first book titled The Passing, but was never published (Famous Authors). After writing his first novel, Sparks went into pharmaceutical sales and was about to give up writing all together (Bio.com). He decided that he would write three more books and if none of them were published he would quit. In the beginning of June 1994, Sparks began writing the Notebook, which is his most known book to date.

When he finished in 1995, Sparks was discovered by literary agent Theresa Parks and was offered a one million dollar movie rights contract (Famous Authors). A few months later, Sparks’ father died in a car accident at the age of 54. The death of his father, while devastating to him, inspired Sparks to write even more (Bio.com). To help him cope with the tragedy, Sparks writes his next book Message in a Bottle. Retiring from his sales job in 1997, Sparks began focusing more on his writing career. In 2000 Sparks’ sister died from a brain tumor leaving Sparks and his brother, Michael, the only surviving members of their family. Sparks decides to write the book Three weeks with my brother, with Michael and dedicate the book to their deceased family (Bio.com). Today Sparks has eight million copies of his books in 45 languages and has had eight books adapted into movies. The Lucky One is Sparks’ fourteenth novel and was in September of 2008 (Biography). The novel was adapted into a movie in April of 2012.

Sparks currently lives in New Bern, North Carolina with his wife Catherine and their five children (Biography). At the beginning of the novel The Lucky One, the main character Logan Thibault is stationed in Afghanistan during his tour with the Marines. Thibault, a young, superstitious man, finds a photograph of a woman out in the sand. Thibault brings the photo back to the base and pins it up on the announcement board to see if anyone claims it. Weeks later he happens to see the picture still up on the board and realizes the soldier it belongs to no longer is at the base. He decides to keep the picture in his back pocket. He soon realizes the picture has been bringing his good luck by helping him win poker matches and even helps him cheat death in a battle.

When Thibault returns home, the picture keeps haunting him because he wants to know who it is. He finally decides to travel across the country, with his dog, to find the woman in the photo. From the few clues the picture provided, such as the county fair sign in the back, he reaches the town of Hampton, North Carolina. He questions the locals until he figures out the woman is Elizabeth Green, a schoolteacher and single mother. Elizabeth lives at her grandmother’s house where the grandmother owns a dog kennel. Thibault goes to work for Elizabeth’s grandmother to try to get closer to Elizabeth. The longer he works there he find out more about her family. Her only son Ben grows attached to Thibault, but Ben’s biological father and Elizabeth’s ex-wife, Keith Clayton, does not Ben anywhere near Thibault. Clayton, who is also the town sheriff, tries to ruin Thibault and Elizabeth’s relationship by stalking them constantly.