The Wish
Author: Nicholas Sparks
Publisher: Hachette Australia
Genre: Modern Romance
Year of release: 2021
Release date 28/09/21
Rating 
Synopsis
If you had one wish…
Maggie hasn’t told this story in years. More than two decades ago, she fell in love. She was sixteen and far from home, waiting to give her baby up for adoption. Bryce showed Maggie how to take photographs and he didn’t judge her for the way her belly swelled under her jumper. They had the perfect first kiss. Theirs was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of love.
Now, as Maggie sits by the Christmas tree in her gallery telling her story, surrounded by the photographs that made her famous – the photographs Bryce never saw – her new gallery assistant asks her a question. If she had one wish, what would she wish for this Christmas?
Maggie always thought she knew the answer to that question. But before she can say ‘I’d go back to that winter with Bryce’, she stops herself. It is all she has ever wanted but suddenly here, on this dark night under the twinkling stars, there is something else she wants. She wants to find her baby.
… what would you wish for?
Review
Famous travel photographer, YouTuber and art gallery owner, Maggie Dawes, has a story to tell with time no longer on her side and Christmas 2019 just around the corner. Maggie finds she needs to get her life in order, but before she can move forward, Maggie must revisit her past.
Seattle 1995, 15-year-old Maggie Dawes is on the bathroom floor holding onto the toilet bowl when she is discovered by her mother. Rather then become schoolyard gossip or become the black sheep of the family, Maggie is sent to live with her Aunt in Ocracoke North Carolina until the baby arrives. Not long after her arrival, she meets 18-year-old Bryce. The pair quicky become inseparable. Bryce introduces Maggie to photography, never once judging Maggie for her current situation.
Maggie begins to share her story with her young assistant Mark Price, who eagerly waits for more details. Each passing day, with more and more enthusiasm, that reminds Maggie of someone she used to know. Can she find the strength she needs to finish the story? Will her Christmas wish come true? An author that sparks joy whenever he puts pen to paper; I’ve been a big fan of Nicholas Sparks previous works. I am always eager to add to my collection. The Wish is one of the author’s best works yet.
“And in the end, isn’t that the most important thing in life? To be truly known and loved by someone you’ve chosen?”– Nicholas Sparks, The Wish
The Wish and its characters will warm your heart, and at the same time shatter it. This novel will stay with you for a long time to come. As always, Nicholas Sparks has crafted three dimensional characters that I come to care deeply for. I found their interests and struggles kept me turning the pages. I found this novel so hard to put down. The story was, at times slow, but this was well-suited to the events of the story. If you’ve read one of his previous novels you know you’re in for a read that will ask the reader tough questions at times, a book that will pull hard at your heart strings, and leave any reader getting lost in a small town, community setting.
This is what makes a Sparks novel predictable, but this is also what makes Sparks a must buy for this reviewer. This novel has found it’s way into the list of books I highly recommend, and one of my favourites by this author, the other being A Walk to Remember (1999). Thanks to the respectful disability representation that was included just as I was with The Return (2021). I was really pleased to see that once again that the disabled community was represented in a positive way. I only wish more authors would take that step when possible.
Having now finished this book I will say I am still struggling to come to terms with the ending. Nicholas Sparks has broken me once again; yet I know when in need of a character-based comfort read his books will always be my first choice. I highly recommend this book, to mature readers. Many Sparks fans have eagerly awaited The Wish’s arrival. If you’re keen to read this author but don’t know where to start, The Wish is a perfect place to embark on your journey.
With continued thanks to Hachette Australia for sending a copy to read and review in exchange for my honest opinion.
