Romance author Nicholas Sparks is keeping his North Carolina family home following his split from his wife of 25 years. The writer, whose novels ?The Notebook,? ?A Walk to Remember? and ?Dear John? have been turned into movies, announced his separation from wife Catherine in January. According to TMZ, the former couple, who have five children, have both now signed their shares in the Trent Acres estate over to the Nicholas Sparks trust, which is run by the writer. Catherine has bought her own $1.1 million mansion a couple of miles away from the estate.