Most Popular Books by John Evans

In this candid and moving memoir, John W. Evans articulates the complicated joys of falling in love again as a young widower. Though heartbroken after his wife’s violent death, Evans realizes that he cannot remain inconsolable and adrift, living with his in-laws in Indiana. Motivated by a small red X on a map, Evans musters the courage for a cross-country trip. From the Badlands to Yellowstone to the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, Evans’s hope and determination propel him even as he contemplates his vulnerability and the legacy of a terrible tragedy. Should I Still Wish chronicles Evans’s efforts to leave an intense year of grief behind, to make peace with the natural world again, and to reconnect with a woman who promises, like San Francisco itself, a life of abundance and charm. With unflinching honesty Evans plumbs the uncertainties, doubts, and contradictions of a paradoxical experience in this love story, celebration of fatherhood, meditation on the afterlife of grief and resilience, and, ultimately, showcase for life’s many profound incongruities.

Can only a penny make a difference in your life? Maybe not now, but it did for a seven-year-old boy, his young mother, and his five siblings living in Houston, Texas. Only a Penny is the inspiring story of the Abercias—a Lebanese immigrant family who crawled out of profound poverty and into prominence. God, family, and country formed their foundation. Their goal was to work hard to assimilate into the American culture of freedom and be a part of what this country had to offer. Ralph (the oldest son) and his siblings sold homemade Syrian bread (pita bread), flower bouquets that his mother crafted from their garden, newspapers, and apples—anything they could to make the pennies that sustained them. Relying on each other to survive, they developed a lifelong bond and a strength that carried them through the Great Depression and World War II and propelled them into prosperity as they become a nationally recognized American-Lebanese family, revered by the Lebanese and Eastern Orthodox communities across the United States and Canada. Authors Sharon Abercia and John Evans tell this family’s story, sharing with us the values of the Greatest Generation that serve as a moral compass and a foundation for us all.