I sensed something kind and wonderful about Cathy almost immediately, though Cathy (like Adrienne) was a little bit more hesitant in her feelings for me. (I know, I know… but hear me out.) We were both in our senior years-I was at the University of Notre Dame and Cathy was at the University of New Hampshire, and like Paul and Adrienne, we’d both traveled to a small coastal town in the hopes of a respite, when we met for the first time. So how was the story of Paul and Adrienne similar to the story of my wife and I?įor starters, my wife and I met in the same way that Paul and Adrienne did, though, of course, for us, it happened on Spring break. Rather, as I had with my other novels, I took the true events and modified them to make the story as interesting as possible. Now, when I say that in some ways, this story parallels that of the relationship between my wife and I, I don’t mean to imply that everything that happened in the story happened in real life. Hence, the names of the major characters became Paul and Adrienne, and of course, because they were my in-laws, I wanted to write the type of story that they would not only enjoy, but that would not offend them as well. “No,” I said, “I don’t,” and she quickly responded, “Paul and I would like our names in one of your books.” That year, when my mother-in-law was visiting, she came up to me and asked if I knew what she wanted for Christmas.

Unlike most of my novels, Nights in Rodanthe was not inspired by specific people in my life, other than the names of the two lead characters.

Nicholas sparks nights in