Reviews

As 2002 ended, best-selling novelist Nicholas Sparks was severely stressed by the demands of promoting his current book, working on the next one, and everyday life with his wife and five young children. He received notice of a three-week round-the-world trip and thought, why not? His wife wasn't able to get away, so he called his older brother Micah. True to the pattern established in childhood, Micah was there for Nicholas; he agreed with alacrity to the proposal. This is no ordinary travelog; interwoven with highlights from their trip-Ayers Rock in Australia, Angkor Wat, the Taj Mahal, Malta, the Midnight Sun above the Arctic Circle in Norway, and others-is the Sparks family story. The brothers share triumphs-success in school, love, and business-and tragedies-the death of their parents and younger sister. This is a heart-warming story; Henry Leyva's narration is polished and clearly read, with musical cues to indicate the ends of chapters and cassettes. A good choice for public library collections.-Nann Blaine Hilyard, Zion-Benton P.L., IL Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

When bestselling author Sparks (The Notebook; Message in a Bottle; etc.) receives a brochure offering a three-week trip around the world, it's not hard for him to persuade Micah, his older brother, to join him in touring Guatemala's Mayan ruins, Peru's Incan temples, Easter Island, the killing fields in Cambodia, the Taj Mahal and Ethiopian rock cathedrals. His account of the trip is refreshingly honest and perceptive. At each stop, the brothers, both deeply committed to their families, cover the crucial moments in a life full of familial love and tragedy: Nick's role as the middle child always feeling left out; his marriage in 1989; the loss of Nick and Micah's mother two months later after a horseback riding accident; the death of Nick's first baby and the physical problems of his second son; the death of their father in a car accident; and the passing of their younger sister from a brain tumor. As the brothers travel together through these mythical sites and share candid thoughts, they find themselves stunned by fate's turns, realizing that a peaceful moment may be shattered at any time. Weaving in vignettes of tenderness and loss with travelogue-like observations, Sparks's account shows how he and his brother both evolved on this voyage. "Somehow there was a chance we could help each other, and in that way, I began to think of the trip less as a journey around the world than a journey to rediscover who I was and how I'd developed the way I did." Agent, Theresa Park. (Apr. 13) Forecast: Sparks's previous books have been champions of the bestseller list, and there's no reason to believe this one isn't destined for similar success. The New Line feature film The Notebook is slated for release in June, which should drive interest further. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.