THE NOTEBOOK by NICHOLAS SPARKS

FORMAT: PAPERBACK

The story begins with a an old man in a nursing home with an old well-worn out and faded notebook open in his lap. He is reading a story from the notebook to a sick woman suffering from Alzheimer’s. This has become a morning ritual. Though she does not understand the story in the beginning, she seems to begin to get a grasp of it gradually. The old man is also suffering from many diseases including kidney failure and loss of memory. The story he reads is about Noah, a young man, who is returning to his town from the war after a 14-year gap. He is now 31 and his memories take him back to the passionate summer he spent with Allie. But then he was a poor laborer and she from a rich family, which led to their separation. Noah, has returned to finish the restoration work of his old house after his father’s death. At the same time Allie, who is now 29, happens to read about the house in the newspaper and comes to visit him. They are flooded with old memories on seeing each other after such a long time. Over dinner they recollect the summer they spent together. Allie learns that Noah had written letters to her everyday, but her mother seemed to have prevented them reaching her. He invites her to see him the next day. Unfortunately, she is engaged to another man, Lon, and she does not want to hurt him either. Allie is torn between her love for Noah and her fiance. The book is about how she deals with it and who she finally ends up with. The Notebook was published in October 1996 and made The New York Times bestseller list in its first week of release.