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American Morning

Interview with Richard Paul Evans

Aired November 29, 2002 - 09:47   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Richard Paul Evans wrote and published a little book that became an international phenomenon, "The Christmas Box." It was a worldwide best seller and because of it, angel statues started popping up across the country. Well, now he's got a new book. It's titled "The Last Promise," and it promises to cause a bit of another big stir.
Paula recently sat down and talked with Richard Paul Evans about his writing and about how he went on about the publishing of "The Christmas Box."

RICHARD PAUL EVANS, AUTHOR, "THE LAST PROMISE": I was making two copies, you know? And then I just -- then I kept getting ambitious and I made 20 copies at Kinko's. And then it just grew and grew. I think we are up to 8 million copies now.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about some of the symbolism in your first book, the statue where a woman goes to mourn the loss of a child. And now, as I understand it, angel statues have become sort of this national phenomenon, with 43 of these statues around the country.

EVANS: Forty-three statues. And more than 100 more in the works. Like the book, you know, I had very simple goals. When I rebuilt the angel statue in Salt Lake City, which did exist, it was just because people who had lost children were coming to me and they wanted a place to go. Well, again, it tapped into this need. We need a lot of healing.

ZAHN: What has that meant to you, to see the level of interest basically sparked by this book?

EVANS: I love it. You know, it's the most gratifying thing in my life. If I were to die tomorrow, I would feel like I had a good life. When people come up to me and say you don't understand, having not lost a child, what this means to me, but you've brought peace in my life. You never know. I mean, even downstairs, when I was putting my makeup on, the woman said, "I know who you are. You are my hero." I thought, wow, you touch lives and you just don't know.

ZAHN: Isn't that a nice feeling?

EVANS: It's a wonderful feeling.

ZAHN: Let's talk about "The Last Promise." After the success of "The Christmas Box," you took your whole family, moved to Italy, all five of the kids, right, and the wife? EVANS: Five kids.

ZAHN: Where you got the inspiration for this story. How did that come about?

EVANS: Well, the first thing I realized when I got to Italy, is that I was not going to write a book about Italy, because it seemed like every American there is there for that reason. And one day I was sitting around a pool and everyone was Italian. I was watching my kids go swimming, and this woman starts speaking English. And I start talking to her and asked her why she was in Italy. And she said, "because I can't leave." And she told me she had come to Italy on a school trip and had met this handsome, wealthy Italian man and married him. And then, the fairy tale soured. He got -- all of a sudden, they had a child and he started acting very chauvinistic and told her he wouldn't let her leave the villa and it became scary.

And so, she told him she wanted a divorce. He said, fine, but you can't take the child out of the country. And so she is kind of a prisoner in paradise.

And I thought what a great concept for a story. And up that point, I had been -- I knew I wanted to write just a flat-out love story and I really wanted to write, really pretty desperately about the need we have for love. I think too many of us neglect those that are close to us, those that need to be -- that are depending on us for love. And then we are surprised later on when someone has an affair. It's like, well, if you don't give them what they need, they are going to find it somewhere. And so, hopefully, as one woman, an advanced reader, said about the book, she said, it read to me like a marriage manual in a way, she said, because now I know how to make my marriage better.

ZAHN: Well I didn't know when I picked up "The Last Promise" I should view it as a marriage manual, but that is a good way to characterize it now.

EVANS: I hope so. Some of the press is saying this is his most controversial work. It's because it's dealing with adult subjects. And it's like, well, someone said this is talking about your having an affair. Absolutely not. I mean, my 14-year-old daughter read one of these articles and said, "Dad, what book did they read"? This is about how to keep your marriage live. This is how to be loyal to someone. She got it.

ZAHN: Richard Paul Evans, again, congratulations, thanks for dropping by. Send some pasta our way. We could use some of the real stuff here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired November 29, 2002 - 09:47   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Richard Paul Evans wrote and published a little book that became an international phenomenon, "The Christmas Box." It was a worldwide best seller and because of it, angel statues started popping up across the country. Well, now he's got a new book. It's titled "The Last Promise," and it promises to cause a bit of another big stir.
Paula recently sat down and talked with Richard Paul Evans about his writing and about how he went on about the publishing of "The Christmas Box."

RICHARD PAUL EVANS, AUTHOR, "THE LAST PROMISE": I was making two copies, you know? And then I just -- then I kept getting ambitious and I made 20 copies at Kinko's. And then it just grew and grew. I think we are up to 8 million copies now.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Let's talk about some of the symbolism in your first book, the statue where a woman goes to mourn the loss of a child. And now, as I understand it, angel statues have become sort of this national phenomenon, with 43 of these statues around the country.

EVANS: Forty-three statues. And more than 100 more in the works. Like the book, you know, I had very simple goals. When I rebuilt the angel statue in Salt Lake City, which did exist, it was just because people who had lost children were coming to me and they wanted a place to go. Well, again, it tapped into this need. We need a lot of healing.

ZAHN: What has that meant to you, to see the level of interest basically sparked by this book?

EVANS: I love it. You know, it's the most gratifying thing in my life. If I were to die tomorrow, I would feel like I had a good life. When people come up to me and say you don't understand, having not lost a child, what this means to me, but you've brought peace in my life. You never know. I mean, even downstairs, when I was putting my makeup on, the woman said, "I know who you are. You are my hero." I thought, wow, you touch lives and you just don't know.

ZAHN: Isn't that a nice feeling?

EVANS: It's a wonderful feeling.

ZAHN: Let's talk about "The Last Promise." After the success of "The Christmas Box," you took your whole family, moved to Italy, all five of the kids, right, and the wife? EVANS: Five kids.

ZAHN: Where you got the inspiration for this story. How did that come about?

EVANS: Well, the first thing I realized when I got to Italy, is that I was not going to write a book about Italy, because it seemed like every American there is there for that reason. And one day I was sitting around a pool and everyone was Italian. I was watching my kids go swimming, and this woman starts speaking English. And I start talking to her and asked her why she was in Italy. And she said, "because I can't leave." And she told me she had come to Italy on a school trip and had met this handsome, wealthy Italian man and married him. And then, the fairy tale soured. He got -- all of a sudden, they had a child and he started acting very chauvinistic and told her he wouldn't let her leave the villa and it became scary.

And so, she told him she wanted a divorce. He said, fine, but you can't take the child out of the country. And so she is kind of a prisoner in paradise.

And I thought what a great concept for a story. And up that point, I had been -- I knew I wanted to write just a flat-out love story and I really wanted to write, really pretty desperately about the need we have for love. I think too many of us neglect those that are close to us, those that need to be -- that are depending on us for love. And then we are surprised later on when someone has an affair. It's like, well, if you don't give them what they need, they are going to find it somewhere. And so, hopefully, as one woman, an advanced reader, said about the book, she said, it read to me like a marriage manual in a way, she said, because now I know how to make my marriage better.

ZAHN: Well I didn't know when I picked up "The Last Promise" I should view it as a marriage manual, but that is a good way to characterize it now.

EVANS: I hope so. Some of the press is saying this is his most controversial work. It's because it's dealing with adult subjects. And it's like, well, someone said this is talking about your having an affair. Absolutely not. I mean, my 14-year-old daughter read one of these articles and said, "Dad, what book did they read"? This is about how to keep your marriage live. This is how to be loyal to someone. She got it.

ZAHN: Richard Paul Evans, again, congratulations, thanks for dropping by. Send some pasta our way. We could use some of the real stuff here.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com