In the prologue to his latest novel, Nicholas Sparks makes the rather presumptuous pledge "first you will smile, and then you will cry," but sure enough, he delivers the goods. With his calculated ability to throw your heart around like a yo-yo (try out his earlier Message in the Bottle or The Notebook if you really want to stick it to yourself), Sparks pulls us back to the perfect innocence of a first love.

In 1958 Landon Carter is a shallow but well-meaning teenager who spends most of his time hanging out with his friends and trying hard to ignore the impending responsibilities of adulthood. Then Landon gets roped into acting the lead in the Christmas play opposite the most renowned goody two-shoes in town: Jamie Sullivan. Against his best intentions and the taunts of his buddies, Landon finds himself falling for Jamie and learning some central lessons in life.

Like John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany, Sparks maintains a delicate and rarely seen balance of humor and sentiment. While the plot may not be the most original, this boy-makes-good tearjerker will certainly reel in the fans. Look for a movie starring beautiful people or, better yet, snuggle under the covers with your tissues nearby and let your inner sap run wild. --Nancy R.E. O'Brien


From Publishers Weekly
Sure to wring yet more tears from willing readers' eyes, the latest novel by the bestselling Sparks is a forced coming-of-age story concerning a pair of unlikely young lovers. In a corny flashback device that mimics The Notebook, 57-year-old Landon Carter spirits himself back to his fateful senior year in high school in Beaufort, N.C., when he was an archetypal troublemaking teenager of the 1950s, changed forever by an unexpected first love. Jamie Sullivan, the Bible-toting minister's daughter, with her drab brown sweaters, spinster hairstyle and sincere, beatific advice, is the obvious target of high school ridicule. Despite conspiring in Jamie's derision, class president Landon, desperate for a date for the homecoming dance, finds himself asking Jamie. Afterwards, Jamie asks him to participate with her in the metaphor-laden school Christmas play (Jamie plays the angel). Landon endures the taunting of his friends and forms an uneasy friendship with Jamie, which is carefully supervised by her father. The teens visit needy orphans, give Oscar-worthy performances in the school play and share dreams watching the sunset. Landon realizes he's in love with Jamie, but, of course, she is hiding a devastating secret that could wring her from Landon's arms forever. Now tortured by his knowledge of what will be her terrible fate, he must make the ultimate decision that catapults him into adulthood. Readers may be frustrated with the invariable formula that Sparks seems to regurgitate with regularity. Although the narrator declares, "My story can't be summed up in two or three sentences; it can't be packaged into something neat and simple that people would immediately understand," this is the author's most simple, formulaic, and blatantly melodramatic package to date. Agent, Theresa Park, Sanford Greenburger Associates. Doubleday Book Club and Literary Guild main selections; 20-city author tour; movie rights optioned by Denise DiNovi at Warner Bros.. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In Sparks's latest sentimental tale, a 17-year-old boy in 1950s North Carolina finds all his expectations overthrown by the Baptist minister's daughter. Film rights were purchased by the producer of Message in a Bottle. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From AudioFile
This is the tender story of a 40-yearold man looking back on his first--and possibly deepest--love. Told mainly from the point of view of 17-year-old Landon Carter, A WALK TO REMEMBER touches listeners with the bittersweet urgency of pure love and life's impermanence. Author and first-time reader Nicholas Sparks brings to his work an authentic resonance that may come from his being so invested in the text. His tone is even and almost effortless, particularly at the moments in the story when it's impossible not to get caught up in the action. Sparks manages to play tug-of-war with our heartstrings while maintaining a boyish innocence in his performance. R.A.P. (c) AudioFile, Portland, Maine


From Booklist
In this nostalgic look back at the late 1950s, Sparks, author of Message in a Bottle , proves once again that he is a master at pulling heartstrings and bringing a tear to his readers' eyes. Beaufort, South Carolina, is a typical small town, and Landon Carter is just a regular guy poised to enjoy his senior year of high school until his father, the congressman, insists that because of his poor grades he needs to do something extra to get into college. Reluctantly, Landon runs for class president and wins. With his election comes responsibility, which includes attending the school dance. This puts Landon in a panic because he doesn't have a girlfriend. He decides to ask Jamie Sullivan, the minister's daughter, because she is the most acceptable of the geeks and probably hasn't been asked yet. They have a good time but Landon doesn't think much about her until they both star in the Christmas play, which her father wrote about his search for love after her mother died. Everyone is excited about Jamie starring as the angel, and Landon takes to walking her home after rehearsals. He finds himself falling in love, but Jamie has a secret that will break his--and Sparks' readers'--hearts. Told in Landon's down-home voice, this bittersweet tale will enthrall Sparks' numerous fans and should be a big hit during the holiday season. Patty Engelmann


From Kirkus Reviews
Sparks (The Notebook, 1996; Message in a Bottle, 1998) carries on in his determined effort to make people cry, this time with an old premise, slow windup, and wobbly pitch. In 1958, high-school senior Landon Carter is 17. Even though his father is a US Congressman, Landons best friends are on the taunting, swaggering sidefootball players and such, who hang around at the local drive-in and flaunt their disrespect. So its strange indeed when Landon gets involved with the nicest girl in townclassmate Jamie Sullivan, who carries a Bible everywhere she goes, does endless good deeds, and is the only child of the widowed Rev. Hegbert Sullivan, the churchman whom Landon and gang love to throw taunts after from hiding places behind trees. But Landon has enrolled in a drama class (for the easy A), and that class is responsible for putting on the annual Christmas play, written by Hegbert, which will be special this year because the authors beloved daughter will have the female leadshes an angel who ministers to a sorrow-filled widower. When Jamie asks Landon if he wont please be the male lead, what can he say? And what can he do, as rehearsals go on, when he starts not only respecting Jamie, but liking her? Embarrassing as it is before his friends, Landon starts helping her do good deeds, and, on performance night, seeing her true beauty for the first time, falls in love with her. Oh, say it isnt sosince great, deep sorrow lies ahead. For Jamie has a secret that, when she tells it to her loving Landon, explains everythingthe Bible she carries, new meanings in the Christmas play, even Jamies reasons for finding it really special this year. Sparks pulls out all the stops as Landon, from a vantage of 40 years later, tells the story out to its teary end. Weepy wisdom aimed at the holiday trade. -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Every April, when the wind blows in from the sea and mingles with the scent of lilacs, Landon Carter remembers his last year at Beaufort High.

It was 1958, and Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had once been in love. Certainly the last person in town he thought he'd fall for was Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's Baptist minister.

A quiet girl who always carried a Bible with her schoolbooks, Jamie seemed content living in a world apart from the other teens. She took care of her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and helped out at the local orphanage. No boy had ever asked her out.

Landon would never have dreamed of it. Then a twist of fate made Jamie his partner for the homecoming dance, and Landon Carter's life would never be the same. Being with Jamie would show him the depths of the human heart and lead him to a decision so stunning it would send him irrevocably on the road to manhood￯﾿ﾽ

No other author today touches our emotions more deeply than Nicholas Sparks. In A Walk To Remember, he tells a truly unforgettable story, one that glimmers with all of his magic, holding us spellbound - and reminding us that in life each of us may find one great loved, the kind that changes everything￯﾿ﾽ

SYNOPSIS

There was a time when the world was sweeter...when the women in Beaufort, North Carolina, wore dresses, and the men donned hats...when something happened to a seventeen-year-old boy that would change his life forever. Every April, when the wind blows in from the sea and mingles with the scent of lilacs, Landon Carter remembers his last year at Beaufort High. It was 1958, and Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had once been in love. Certainly the last person in town he thought he'd fall for was Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's Baptist minister. A quiet girl who always carried a Bible with her schoolbooks, Jamie seemed content living in a world apart from the other teens. She took care of her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and helped out at the local orphanage. No boy had ever asked her out. Landon would never have dreamed of it. Then a twist of fate made Jamie his partner for the homecoming dance, and Landon Carter's life would never be the same. Being with Jamie would show him the depths of the human heart and lead him to a decision so stunning it would send him irrevocably on the road to manhood. No other author today touches our emotions more deeply than Nicholas Sparks. Illuminating both the strength and the gossamer fragility of our deepest emotions, his two New York Times bestsellers, The Notebook and Message in a Bottle, have established him as the leading author of today's most cherished love stories. Now, in A Walk to Remember, he tells a truly unforgettable story, one that glimmers with all of his magic, holding us spellbound-and reminding us that in life each of us may find one great love, the kind that changes everything...

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Sure to wring yet more tears from willing readers' eyes, the latest novel by the bestselling Sparks is a forced coming-of-age story concerning a pair of unlikely young lovers. In a corny flashback device that mimics The Notebook, 57-year-old Landon Carter spirits himself back to his fateful senior year in high school in Beaufort, N.C., when he was an archetypal troublemaking teenager of the 1950s, changed forever by an unexpected first love. Jamie Sullivan, the Bible-toting minister's daughter, with her drab brown sweaters, spinster hairstyle and sincere, beatific advice, is the obvious target of high school ridicule. Despite conspiring in Jamie's derision, class president Landon, desperate for a date for the homecoming dance, finds himself asking Jamie. Afterwards, Jamie asks him to participate with her in the metaphor-laden school Christmas play (Jamie plays the angel). Landon endures the taunting of his friends and forms an uneasy friendship with Jamie, which is carefully supervised by her father. The teens visit needy orphans, give Oscar-worthy performances in the school play and share dreams watching the sunset. Landon realizes he's in love with Jamie, but, of course, she is hiding a devastating secret that could wring her from Landon's arms forever. Now tortured by his knowledge of what will be her terrible fate, he must make the ultimate decision that catapults him into adulthood. Readers may be frustrated with the invariable formula that Sparks seems to regurgitate with regularity. Although the narrator declares, "My story can't be summed up in two or three sentences; it can't be packaged into something neat and simple that people would immediately understand," this is the author's most simple, formulaic, and blatantly melodramatic package to date. (Oct.) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Library Journal

In Sparks's latest sentimental tale, a 17-year-old boy in 1950s North Carolina finds all his expectations overthrown by the Baptist minister's daughter. Film rights were purchased by the producer of Message in a Bottle. Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

AudioFile

This is the tender story of a 40-year.old man looking back on his first--and possibly deepest--love. Told mainly from the point of view of 17-year-old Landon Carter, A WALK TO REMEMBER touches listeners with the bittersweet urgency of pure love and life's impermanence. Author and first-time reader Nicholas Sparks brings to his work an authentic resonance that may come from his being so invested in the text. His tone is even and almost effortless, particularly at the moments in the story when it's impossible not to get caught up in the action. Sparks manages to play tug-of-war with our heartstrings while maintaining a boyish innocence in his performance. R.A.P. ￯﾿ﾽ AudioFile, Portland, Maine

Kirkus Reviews

Sparks (The Notebook, 1996; Message in a Bottle, 1998) carries on in his determined effort to make people cry, this time with an old premise, slow windup, and wobbly pitch. In 1958, high-school senior Landon Carter is 17. Even though his father is a US Congressman, Landon's best friends are on the taunting, swaggering side—football players and such, who hang around at the local drive-in and flaunt their disrespect. So it's strange indeed when Landon gets involved with the nicest girl in town—classmate Jamie Sullivan, who carries a Bible everywhere she goes, does endless good deeds, and is the only child of the widowed Rev. Hegbert Sullivan, the churchman whom Landon and gang love to throw taunts after from hiding places behind trees. But Landon has enrolled in a drama class (for the easy A), and that class is responsible for putting on the annual Christmas play, written by Hegbert, which will be special this year because the author's beloved daughter will have the female lead—she's an angel who ministers to a sorrow-filled widower. When Jamie asks Landon if he won't please be the male lead, what can he say? And what can he do, as rehearsals go on, when he starts not only respecting Jamie, but liking her? Embarrassing as it is before his friends, Landon starts helping her do good deeds, and, on performance night, seeing her true beauty for the first time, falls in love with her. Oh, say it isn't so—since great, deep sorrow lies ahead. For Jamie has a secret that, when she tells it to her loving Landon, explains everything—the Bible she carries, new meanings in the Christmas play, even Jamie's reasons for finding it really special this year. Sparkspulls out all the stops as Landon, from a vantage of 40 years later, tells the story out to its teary end. Weepy wisdom aimed at the holiday trade.