Books Nicholas Sparks
Nicholas Charles Sparks
- world famous American writer, author of best-selling novels. According to conservative estimates, more than 50 million copies of Sparks' books have been sold in America and abroad. The themes of his works are inextricably linked with Christianity, love, fate and human feelings. He has 18 published novels to his credit. Lives in New Bern, North Carolina, USA with his wife Kathy Cote and five children. After the release of The Book of Memory, the first thing he bought was a new wedding ring for his wife. He always dedicates every new work to her. People Magazine named Sparks the most attractive author of the year.
Nicholas Sparks was born on New Year's Eve in Omaha, Nebraska to professor Patrick Michael and housewife Jill Emma Maria. In 1985, while studying at school, Sparks wrote his first work, “Separation.”
(never published). After graduating from high school, he entered the Catholic University of Notre Dame, and in 1988, the year he graduated, he met his future wife, Kathy Cote. After graduating from university, he tried to start a literary career, offering his novel “Royal Murders” to various publishers, but was rejected everywhere, and over the next three years he had to either work as a real estate appraiser, or sell various dental products over the phone, or try set up your own business producing orthopedic products.
In 1990, in collaboration with his friend, former famous athlete and 1964 Olympic champion Billy Millis, Sparks wrote the psychological work Wokini: A Lakota Journey to Happiness and Self-Understanding.
Wookini is a Lakota word for seeking a new beginning. The book sold approximately 50,000 copies in its first year.
In 1992, Sparks began working for a pharmaceutical company and moved to Greenville, South Carolina. In his spare time, he began writing the novel The Notebook.
Two years later, the novel was noticed by literary agent Teresa Park, who secured a $1 million publishing contract.
The Notebook
was published in October 1996 and topped the New York Times best-selling book list in its first week of sale.
Not really trusting such a sudden and noisy success, Sparks was at first in no hurry to part with his job - selling medicines, which he had been doing for the past six years, and finally made his choice only when he saw that his new novel "Message in a Bottle" (1998) has every chance of becoming another bestseller. Sparks subsequently wrote several more bestsellers.
Nicholas Sparks - Miracle of Love
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Nicholas Sparks
Miracle of love
This book is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places and events described in this book are fictitious. Any similarities with real people and events that occurred are purely coincidental.
Chapter 1
That December day, sitting among the audience in the studio of a live talk show, Jeremy Marsh felt that he stood out more than ever in the crowd: the vast majority of the audience were women - there were less than a dozen men in the audience stands. Dressed as always in all black, with dark curly hair, blue eyes and three days of fashionable stubble, Jeremy looked every bit the New Yorker he was. Carefully watching the guest of the program broadcast from the stage, he managed to glance at the attractive blonde sitting three rows above him. His profession required special powers of observation—the ability to see and notice everything around him. Jeremy was a journalist conducting his own investigations, and the blonde was one of the spectators, and, like a true professional, he, of course, could not help but notice how impressive she looked in an off-the-shoulder top and jeans.
After a few more glances at the blonde, Jeremy decided to focus his attention on the guest of the program - the medium Timothy Clausen. The performance that he performed on stage should, in Jeremy's opinion, make any sane person laugh. Clausen froze in solemn anticipation, pretending to listen to voices from the afterlife, and tension froze on his concentrated face, illuminated by the bright studio lamps. He behaved as if all the spectators had already become his best friends and a warm, trusting relationship was established between him and each of them. The vast majority of the audience - including the attractive blonde and the woman for whom Clausen was currently conducting a seance - looked at him with reverence, as if he were a messenger from heaven.
“Yes, exactly heaven,” thought Jeremy. After all, all people are sure that the souls of their deceased loved ones are in heaven. Souls evoked by a medium in spiritualistic seances always appear to him in a bright angelic radiance and radiate peace and tranquility. Jeremy had never heard of a medium calling souls from another, hotter place. No matter how cynical it is to think about it, in his memory, not a single soul “summoned” from the other world has told how it was roasted on a spit or boiled in boiling oil. However, it was impossible not to admit that Timothy Clausen’s show compared favorably with other similar performances. Clausan was a good artist, which cannot be said about most of the charlatans that Jeremy often wrote about.
“I know it won’t be easy for you now, gather your courage,” Clausen said soulfully into the microphone. – Frank tells you that the hour of your last farewell has come.
The woman he addressed seemed on the verge of fainting. A lady of about fifty in an extravagant green striped blouse and with red curls sticking out randomly in all directions pressed her clasped hands to her chest, squeezing them so hard that her fingers turned white.
Clausen paused and then solemnly placed his hand on his forehead, “making contact with the other world,” as he called it. Silence reigned in the studio, and all the spectators leaned forward in tense anticipation. This woman was the third spectator Clausen had chosen to demonstrate communication with the souls of the dead, and everyone present knew what was about to happen. Timothy Clausen was the only guest on this popular talk show, and all the public's attention was focused only on him.
– Do you remember the letter that Frank wrote to you? Clausen asked. - Shortly before death.
The woman opened her eyes wide, shocked. The assistant holding the microphone in front of her moved it even closer to her lips so that not a single word of hers would escape the viewers.
- Y-yes. But how did you know that?.. – the woman stammered.
– Do you remember what was written in that letter? – Clausen asked, not allowing her to finish.
“Of course,” she managed to squeeze out with difficulty.
The medium nodded with satisfaction, showing with all his appearance that he himself was well aware of the contents of the letter.
– It was about forgiveness, wasn’t it? – he specified.
The presenter was sitting on the sofa at this time, looking in amazement from Clousen to the woman and back. It was noticeable that she was shocked and at the same time extremely pleased with what was happening: the successful performance of the medium should undoubtedly help increase the ratings of the program.
The woman nodded silently, and Jeremy saw rivulets of black-inked tears flow down her cheeks. The camera showed a close-up of her face. Here it is, another heart-warming moment from a live television talk show!
“But how did you manage?” the woman began again.
“He was talking not only about himself... but also about your sister,” Clausen said quietly, ignoring the question.
The interlocutor looked at the medium as if spellbound.
“About your sister Ellin,” he explained.
After these words, the woman was no longer able to hold back her sobs, and tears rolled down from her eyes. Clausen - in a strict black suit, impeccably combed - nodded again with satisfaction, like the toy dog that many drivers place at the windshield of their car. Everyone looked at the woman, maintaining deathly silence.
– Frank left you something else as a souvenir. Something from your distant past.
Despite the fact that it was very hot from the brightly burning lamps in the studio, the woman’s face became deathly pale. Seated to the side, out of view of the television cameras, the talk show administrator twirled his raised index finger, apparently letting the medium know that it was time to call it a day: the commercial break was approaching. Clausen caught the signal given to him out of the corner of his eye. Apparently no one except Jeremy noticed. He was always surprised that viewers of such programs never wondered how they managed to coordinate communication with the afterlife and commercial breaks in time.
Clausen spoke again:
“He left you one thing that mattered only to you two.” Nobody knew about this except you. That was the key, right?
The woman nodded, still sobbing.
“You didn’t even suspect that he saved it.” Right?
“Here is another victim of a clever charlatan,” thought Jeremy. “Another person blinded by love and ready to believe in a miracle.”
– This is the key to the hotel room where you spent your honeymoon. He left it for you to remember the days when you were so happy together. He loved you and didn't want the memories to hurt you.
“Oh God!..” the woman moaned. Jeremy couldn't make out anything else, because the next moment the sobs of the shocked spectator were drowned out by enthusiastic applause, the assistant removed the microphone, and the cameras stopped showing her. The woman, in whom no one had shown any interest, sank down exhausted, and the presenter immediately stepped in. She stood up from her sofa and said to the camera with a smile:
– Dear TV viewers! We remind you that everything you see now is happening live. None of the people on our talk show knew or had ever met Timothy Clausen. We will continue the broadcast in a few minutes. Stay with us!
Applause broke out again and the show went to a commercial break. Jeremy leaned back in his chair. He often wrote about people like Clausen, and articles exposing various types of scammers and charlatans brought him fame. Jeremy loved his work, was proud of it, and considered the profession of a journalist one of the most important in a democratic society - it is not for nothing that the rights of journalists were enshrined in the First Amendment to the US Constitution.
Jeremy had a regular column in Scientific American, where he published interviews with Nobel Prize winners, as well as popular science articles in which he introduced readers to the theories of various scientists - from Stephen Hawking to Einstein. Once, thanks to his article, which shook the public, the Food and Drug Administration removed dangerous antidepressants from sale. Jeremy wrote about the Cassini project, a flaw in the manufacture of the Hubble Space Telescope's mirror, and was one of the first to question the Utah scientists' message from the outset that they had solved the "cold fusion" problem.
However, despite its social significance, Jeremy's column for Scientific American did not bring him much income, and so for the last fifteen years he had to rely mainly on his freelance income. Like all freelance journalists, Jeremy was constantly on the lookout for scoops that might catch the attention of a newspaper or magazine editor. He expanded the scope of his interests as much as possible and tried to focus on “everything that goes beyond the ordinary.” This category included various kinds of mediums, healers and psychics. Jeremy exposed deceptions, frauds and hoaxes. He visited “haunted houses”, searched for “supernatural” creatures, and found out the origins of sinister urban legends. Jeremy was a skeptic by nature and had a rare ability to present complex scientific concepts in an accessible and understandable manner. His articles have appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines around the world. He believed that he was doing an important and noble thing, but many were extremely irritated by his activities. Very often, after the publication of another revealing article, Jeremy was bombarded with an avalanche of indignant letters, liberally seasoned with curses. He was called an imbecile, mediocrity and - no more and no less - a journalist bought by the authorities, which did not even offend, but made him laugh with its absurdity.
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