This is another heart-touching novel from Nicholas Sparks. It tells the life story of Miles Ryans, a deputy sheriff, who has lost his wife in a tragic accident two years ago. Missy was his first love, and maybe will be his last. Even after her death he never stopped loving her. But he was not the only one who was affected by this turn of events, this had a great impact on their son Jonah. But Miles’s thirst for vengeance makes him blind. It might wreck his life.

A BEND IN THE ROAD

By Nicholas Sparks

341 pages, Grand Central Publishing

This is another heart-touching novel from Nicholas Sparks. It tells the life story of Miles Ryans, a deputy sheriff, who has lost his wife in a tragic accident two years ago. Missy was his first love, and maybe will be his last. Even after her death he never stopped loving her. But he was not the only one who was affected by this turn of events, this had a great impact on their son Jonah. But Miles’s thirst for vengeance makes him blind. It might wreck his life.

Their whole household was a mess after Missy died. Both Miles and Jonah were miserable. Miles found no purpose in living without Missy but he wanted to punish the person who was responsible for her death. He started researching her accident. In the meantime, Sarah Andrews has come to New Bern from Baltimore after a difficult divorce. She became the second grade teacher of Jonah. She got emotionally drained when she the pain Jonah’s eyes, it reminded her of her own hurt. What surprised her more was seeing the same pain in his father’s eyes. She has an urge to wipe away their pain. So, she decided to reach for them. After a very long time, they laughed.

She came in their life as a fresh gush of wind, and without realizing Miles fell I love with her. Jonah got a mother he ever wanted. Sarah whose politician husband had abandoned her due to her failed ovary got a chance at motherhood. Unknowingly, they became an inseparable trio. What they don’t know is that they are bound by a more formidable secret. What if the secret is out? Will they be able to surpass the inevitable? Will there will be a happy ending?

At the starting their love story goes very softly like marshmallow fluff but a lurking shadow of secrets was always there. Sparks has written this novel in third person’s point of view. This tale is sweet, uplifting, accessible, and predictable. What makes it more special is the author’s unique style of character-weaving. Even the small character who doesn’t have a role in central plot of the novel like Brenda’s (Sarah’s friend and Miles’s old friend) character has a huge impact on us. She is a sweet loving soul. Throughout the novel, you will find yourself overwhelmed by the emotions. Nicholas Sparks’s use of expression and plotting sure helps to make this novel, a good mystery. These are my favorite quote from the novel;

“Where does a story truly begin? In life, there are seldom clear cut beginning, those moments when we can, looking back, say that everything has started. Yet there are moments when fate intersects with our daily lives, setting in motion a sequence of events, whose outcome we could never have foreseen. ”

“There is something terrible in the moments after waking up, when the subconscious
knows that something terrible has happened but before all the memories flash back in
their entirety”

If you want to read a sweet love story with a pinch of suspense and secrets, you should  definitely read this novel.