Dear John is a romance novel by American writer Nicholas Sparks released in 2007.

Sparks took inspiration from the real-life story of his cousin Todd Vance who served in the U.S. Armed Forces.

The story is partially set in Wilmington, North Carolina where John's father was a single parent who had difficulty having meaningful conversation with his son and has an obsession with coin collecting.

Feeling a lack of direction and no strong fatherly influence in his life, John enlisted in the U.S. Armed Forces.

Although drained by battle overseas and the loss of Savannah, he realizes that due to a legacy from his father, he is able to express his love in an unexpected way.