The Lucky One (novel)
First edition
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| Author | Nicholas Sparks |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre |
Romance Drama War |
| Publisher | Grand Central Publishing |
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Publication date
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2008 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 386 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 233573959 |
| 813/.54 22 | |
| LC Class | PS3569.P363 L83 2008 |
| Preceded by | The Choice |
The Lucky One is a 2008 romance novel by American writer Nicholas Sparks. U.S. Marine Logan Thibault finds a photograph of a smiling young woman half-buried in the dirt during his first deployment in the Iraq War. He carries the photo in his pocket and soon wins a streak of poker games, then survives a battle that kills two of his closest buddies. His best friend, Victor, seems to have an explanation for his good fortune: the photograph, his lucky charm.
Back home in Colorado, Thibault begins to believe that the woman in the photo somehow holds the key to his destiny. He sets out on a journey across the country with his German shepherd, Zeus, to find her and eventually encounters Elizabeth "Beth" Green, a divorced mother with a young son, Ben, in North Carolina.
Caught off guard by the attraction he feels, Thibault keeps the story of the photo and his luck a secret. He and Beth begin a passionate love affair, but the secret of the photo soon threatens to tear them apart, and by continued interference in their lives by Beth's ex-husband, the town's Sheriff and son of town's most eminent person and businessman—destroying not only their deep and true passionate, romantic love but also their very lives.
The novel follows from three different character perspectives: Keith Clayton, Elizabeth Green, and Logan Thibault.
The novel was adapted into a 2012 film starring Zac Efron and Taylor Schilling.
The book deals with the themes of starcrossed fate and destiny. Despite the allusions to such themes made in the novel, Sparks admitted that he does not necessarily believe in either. He adds, however, that he is "a big believer in the fact that people have the ability to influence the future in a way that seems coincidental and when that happens, the feeling of fate or destiny is amplified. [...] In the end, when writing The Lucky One, I wanted to explore the subject of fate or destiny, but in a way that reflected the reality of the world."
The book starts from Keith Clayton's perspective. Keith is a local police officer. He is at a location where local college students go for nude swimming. He is carrying a camera he borrowed from the Police Department and is taking pictures of three female college students. One of them leaves the beach and comes upon Keith who is supposed to be on duty. He hides the camera and talks with the girls about their breaking the law by nude bathing. He lets them go. He comes across a man whom Keith describes as looking like a hippie walking down a logging road by the beach with a dog. It is Logan Thibault and his dog, Zeus. Keith is concerned Logan saw everything that had happened and tries to find a way to take Logan in. However, after running a background check on Logan and Logan refusing to let him search his bags he lets Logan go. He asks Logan where he is going and states he is heading to Arden. Keith goes back to find the camera he hid, but it is gone and the tires on his squad car are slashed. Keith becomes concerned as his father is the local Sheriff and his grandfather is a local judge.
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