The Longest Ride

by Nicholas Sparks

Overview

From the dark days of WWII to present-day North Carolina, this New York Times bestseller shares the lives of two couples overcoming destructive secrets — and finding joy together.


Ira Levinson is in trouble. Ninety-one years old and stranded and injured after a car crash, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together - how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can't possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.


A few miles away, at a local bull-riding event, a Wake Forest College senior's life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward — even life and death - loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans — a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he's keeping doesn't destroy it first.


Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781538709771
Publisher:	Grand Central Publishing
Publication date:	02/01/2022
Pages:	416
Sales rank:	44,023
Product dimensions:	7.80(w) x 5.10(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

With over 100 million copies of his books sold, Nicholas Sparks is one of the world's most beloved storytellers. His novels include sixteen #1 New York Times bestsellers, and all of his books, including Three Weeks with My Brother, the memoir he wrote with his brother, Micah, have been New York Times and international bestsellers, and were translated into more than fifty languages. Eleven of Nicholas Sparks's novels — The Choice, The Longest Ride, The Best of Me, Safe Haven, The Lucky One, The Last Song, Dear John, Nights in Rodanthe, The Notebook, A Walk to Remember, and Message in a Bottle — have been adapted into major motion pictures.

Hometown:

New Bern, North Carolina

Date of Birth:

December 31, 1965

Place of Birth:

Omaha, Nebraska

Education:

B.A. in finance, University of Notre Dame, 1988

Website:

http://nicholassparks.com

Editorial Reviews

"Sparks is a poet . . . a master."—Philadelphia Inquirer

"Epic Sparks . . . showcases the author's most accomplished work to date . . . There are moments of perfection . . . Reaching not only young and old, the novel is commingled with enough cowboy action, literary flavor, and a maturing gift for dialogue to reach across the sexes."—Mountain Times (NC)

"These parallel love stories are each rich in their own right, but together, they tell a broader and more complicated tale of love's growth and evolution over time . . . some surprising twists right up until the very end."—BookReporter.com

From the Publisher

Nicholas Sparks’ redemptive, emotionally charged novel is an enjoyable change of pace for fans. Thanks to nuanced performances by Ron McLarty and January LaVoy, it’s also an instantly engrossing listening experience…LaVoy provides a steady, bright narration and compassionate characterizations that complement McLarty’s work beautifully, highlighting the differences in these character’s experiences even as they grow inexorably closer together.”

AudioFile

The two couples could not be more unlike, especially in their present situations. Ira Levinson is ninety-one years old, injured, and stranded, perhaps forever, after a car crash; yet comforted by visions of his beloved wife Ruth, who died nine years before. Not far away is Wake Forest senior Sophia Danko, enraptured head over heels with an equally enthralled cowboy named Luke. In this cinematic novel, Nicholas Sparks weaves together the stories of these two starkly different pairs as only he could…(P.S. Read it now; see it later: The Longest Ride is slated to be a film, due to be release on Valentine’s Day weekend 2015).”

editorial review Barnes&Noble.com

Nicholas Sparks’s redemptive, emotionally charged novel is an enjoyable change of pace for fans. Thanks to nuanced performances by Ron McLarty and January LaVoy, it’s also an instantly engrossing listening experience. When 91-year-old Ira Levinson drives off the road in a snowstorm, he has no one but his late wife to pass the long hours with while waiting for rescue. Meanwhile, miles away, Sophia Danko meets a cowboy who challenges her dreams of the future. Ron McLarty emphasizes Ira’s inner strength and growing fallibility while making the supporting cast immediately identifiable and intensely sympathetic. January LaVoy provides a steady, bright narration and compassionate characterizations that complement McLarty’s work beautifully, highlighting the differences in these characters' experiences even as they grow inexorably closer together. B.E.K. 2014 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2013, Portland, Maine

NOVEMBER 2013 - AudioFile

2013-10-28
Love means never having to say you're dead. Sparks (The Best of Me, 2011, etc.) fans know the drill: sweetness and light, darkness and despair, kissing and making up. And always, always, intertwining storylines. Got the template? Here, Sparks opens with a grim scene that soon turns as sappy as a maple: Old Ira Levinson (there's a signal there) has driven off the road in black ice and snow, and now he's feeling, as he says, "the Grim Reaper tapping my shoulder." Now, it stands to reason that up there in the Southern highlands, a tow truck is likely to arrive less expeditiously than the nearest friendly ghost, in this case, that of Ira's beloved wife, Ruth. If you've seen that Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore movie, you'll know how this part works. But Ira isn't just any old Southern Jew expiring in the cold: He's had a hobby that's morphed into a grail. Exit stage right; enter Sophia and Luke. Sophia's a sorority sweetie with a brawler of a boyfriend whom she's trying to ditch, and Luke is the cowboy hero who comes loping along to save the day. But let Sparks explain: "The cowboy's words were clear and slow, as if he were addressing a dimwit." Indeed. Well, bad boyfriend is conflict No. 1, and Luke's nerves are conflict No. 2, especially when it comes to a session with the monster bull of his darkest dreams. All that remains to be done is to lasso these two couples together, jerk some tears: "My plea to you is this: despite your sadness, do not forget how happy you have made me; do not forget that I loved a man who loved me in return, and this was the greatest gift I could ever have hoped to receive." To which, in cowboy-speak, the proper reply is: "Aw, shucks." Just the sort of thing for Sparks buffs.

Kirkus Reviews