Message In A Bottle

In 1996, before Message in a Bottle, Nicholas Sparks wrote The Notebook, which dealt with “everlasting, unconditional love” (“Message in a Bottle.” Nicholas Sparks). His first romance was hugely popular, which made it difficult to decide whether to stick with the same themes or try something new. The Notebook was inspired by his wife’s grandparents’ real-life love story, and he sought to capture the quality of their relationship in that story. Though he opted to go in a different direction thematically with his sophomore novel, he turned to family again for inspiration.

Sparks says he drew inspiration for his second novel from his father’s experiences after the death of his mother. In a completely unpredictable accident, Sparks’s mother fell from a horse, hit her head, and died shortly after. She and Sparks’s father married young and had been married for 27 years when she died, so his father struggled with how to live without her. “A lot of people wear black to a funeral,” Sparks says, “My father wore black every day for four years” (“Message in a Bottle”). His father became a virtual recluse, even avoiding friends and family, only leaving the house to go to work.