Redeeming Love
by Francine Rivers
Published by Multnomah Publishers
Click on book
cover to order
at Amazon.com
Reviewed by Susan Palmer
Francine Rivers' Redeeming Love, originally published as a general market romance, has been re-released by Multnomah Publishers for the Christian market.
This edition has new cover design and 6-part study guide added. This book is based on the story of Hosea and Gomer as told in the book Hosea in the Bible. The two characters, Hosea and Gomer, are given recognizable names, Michael and Angel. She also sets the time period within the 1800s California Gold rush, when the land was lawless, and prostitution and gambling was abundant.
Gomer's character, Angel, who at age eight, learned to be prostitute from a man named Duke. To escape Duke, Angel travels by sea to California to start a new life--but winds up doing what she knows. She ends up in a town called Pair-a-Dice, California working for a woman named Duchess.
Hosea's character, Michael Hosea, comes to Pair-a-Dice, California to sell his crops to the mercantile. One day while unloading his crops, he notices a beautiful woman dressed in all black walking down the street. As soon as he sees her, the Lord whispers in his ear that she is the one for him to marry. He is shocked to learn that she is an expensive prostitute working in a Duchess's brothel.
Michael persists that Angel marry him so he can obey God's word, but Angel has no belief in God--and declines him every time--until Michael rescues her from a very severe beating. After they marry, he has to convince her he loves her regardless of who she is and what she's done. For Angel to accept Michael's love, she must first discover what love really is and accept the belief that God is real. Through many trials and separations from Michael, Angel begins to listen to the whispering in her ear and accept God as her savior.
Through questions and discussions, the reader understands a great more of the story and what God is trying to teach each of us about his redeeming love.
Armchair Interviews says: An most interesting and thought-provoking present-day look at characters from the Bible.