Father Of The Bride Blues

Seven years ago, Nicholas Sparks’ lackluster career as a pharmaceutical salesman ended abruptly when his first novel, The Notebook, became an international bestseller. Since then, averaging a book a year, he has sold millions of copies of six novels in 35 languages. All six have also been sold to Hollywood, with two, Message in a Bottle, starring Kevin Costner, and A Walk to Remember, starring Orlando’s Mandy Moore, already released. A newly completed version of The Notebook, starring Joan Allen and James Garner, will be shown next year, and screen versions of A Bend in the Road and Nights in Rodanthe are pending.

This month sees the publication of Sparks’ latest offering, The Wedding (Warner Books, $23.95), which introduces us to Wilson Lewis, the son-in-law of Noah and Allie, whom we met in The Notebook. As he makes preparations for his daughter’s wedding, Lewis begins to realize that the romance has gone out of his own 30-year marriage and that he is in danger of losing his wife, Jane — even though he still loves her deeply. How Lewis plans to regain Jane’s affections as his daughter’s wedding nears provides the crux of a typical, unashamedly sentimental Sparks novel. It’s a safe bet that Hollywood will soon be calling.

Read the entire article in the September 2003 issue