“It’s important to remember that none of us is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. All we can do is try to be the best version of ourselves as we move forward. In this case, if he asks, you can tell the truth, or you can lie. I suppose it comes down to the kind of person you want to see when you look in the mirror.”

I have been in love with the work of Nicholas Sparks for a long time now. His books are easy on the mind and heavy on feelings. The Wish is another such novel. Talking of love and loss and coming to terms with life, the book is an intricately woven story that will certainly move you.

It is about a sixteen year old Maggie Dawes who gets pregnant and is sent to a remote village called Ocracoke to live with her aunt for the duration of her pregnancy. She is resigned to months of boredom at the village but her life takes an unexpected turn when she meets a local boy, Bryce. He makes her life in Ocracoke fun and gradually they fall in love. It is on the remote island of Ocracoke that she finds her love and her true passion which will define her life.

The story begins in December of 2019, a few days before Christmas, when Maggie is battling advance stage of cancer. One day, she tells the story of her life at Ocracoke to Mark, who works at her gallery. The novel moves back and forth from 1995 to the present and we get to know about her pregnancy, her life with Bryce and how she became a famous photographer.

In true Nicholas Sparks style, every character is perfectly portrayed. The novel deals with teenage pregnancy, love, sacrifice, acceptance and loss. While reading I kept wondering why Bryce was not with her when they were clearly so much in love and the revelation was certainly unexpected. There are a lot of feelings and though I have seldom cried reading a book (reading Dumbledore’s death is the only time where I have actually shed tears), The Wish definitely left me emotional.

My rating: 5/5