Safe Haven (novel)

Safe Haven is a romantic novel by American novelist Nicholas Sparks. It was published in 2010. According to WorldCat, the book is held in 2242 libraries ^[1]

Plot

Katie, a woman around the age of 27, moves to Southport, North Carolina. She remains really distant to anyone who appears interested, and starts working at a restaurant named Ivan's, living a distant life without involving herself in anything social. She becomes friends with her neighbor, a woman in her thirties.

Katie regularly goes shopping at a store and the owner of the store, Alex, becomes interested in her. Alex's wife died, leaving him with two children, Josh and Kristen. Katie instantly falls in love with little Kristen, who is too young to attend school yet and joins her father at the store. One day, Josh almost drowns while fishing, and as Alex rescues him, Katie comforts Kristen. Following this incident, Katie becomes friendlier with Alex, and eventually, invites him to dinner at her house. They soon come to realize they love each other, and Alex, who was a detective, guesses Katie's secret. Katie, understanding Alex has guessed her secret, reveals it to him, sharing that her real name is Erin Tierney. She has fled to escape her husband, Kevin, a Boston policeman and an alcoholic. He physically abused her, forced her to flee, and take a new identity in the form of her old neighbor's deceased daughter. Alex promises to protect her secret, and soon, their love starts growing deeper.

On the other hand, Kevin is furious at Katie because she has run away. Katie had previously ran away twice, both times Kevin found her. He starts searching for Katie, and finally is able to locate her. Katie is taking care of Alex's children, while Alex picks up a friend at the airport. Kevin sets Alex's house on fire, as Katie manages to escape with Josh and Kristen. She fights with Kevin, giving the children time to escape. Alex arrives and takes the children to Katie's home, but then returns to his burning house and attacks Kevin. Kevin escapes from Alex and drives toward Katie's house. After Katie learns Alex left the children at her house, she grows terrified; she knows Kevin will go to her house to hunt her, and putting the children's lives in danger. As they reach Katie's house, Kevin attacks Alex with a crowbar. Katie, however, kills Kevin with a gun.

Alex recovers in a hospital and soon, from the remains of the burnt house, a safe is recovered. Alex hands Katie a letter from the safe. Katie goes back to her cottage to meet her neighbor, friend and supporter, Jo. However, she is shocked to see Jo's house in such a state, hinting the house was never lived in. Startled, she comes to think Jo was completely her imagination. Shocked, she starts reading the letter Alex handed her. It is a letter written by Alex's late wife, Carly. And there, it is written, her (Carly's) friends used to call her Jo. Katie realizes Jo wasn't in her imagination, but was Carly's spirit. She finishes reading the letter, which Carly wrote to the woman her husband loves, requesting she, Katie, always take care of Alex and the children.

Katie starts going to Alex's home, and before leaving her house, sees Jo's house lighted, and Jo standing and waving her farewell.

Adaptation

Safe Haven was adapted into a feature film in 2013. The film was directed by Lasse Hallström. It starred Julianne Hough as Katie, Josh Duhamel as Alex, David Lyons as Kevin, and Cobie Smulders as Jo. The film received mostly negative reviews from critics.^[2]

References

External links

• Safe Haven in Goodreads