16. Redeeming Love
Rating: ☆☆☆☆
Recommended by: Adrienne Bulinski
Author: Francine Rivers
Genre: Fiction, Historical Fiction, Christian, Romance
Info: 465 pages, published May 9, 2005
Format: Book
Summary
Redeeming Love a historical romance novel set in the 1850s Gold Rush in California. The story is inspired by the Book of Hosea from the Bible. Its central theme is the redeeming love of God towards sinners. Angel, the main character, is abandoned by her father and sold to a house of prostitution after her mother dies. Angel hardens herself to survive and expects nothing from men but betrayal. When she meets Michael Hosea, Angel’s life begins to change. Michael obeys God’s call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel’s every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.
Quotes
“Love is the way back into Eden. It is the way back to life.”
“If you love me as you claim to, then you love her as well. She’s part of me. Do you understand? She’s part of my flesh and my life. When you say things against her, you say them against me. When you cut her, you cut me. Do you understand?”
“All the way back, she had imagined him gloating and taunting, rubbing her face in her own broken pride. Instead, he knelt before her and washed her dirty, blistered feet. Throat burning, she looked down at his dark head and struggled with the feelings rising in her. She waited for them to die away, but they wouldn’t.”
“He was never angry when she made mistakes. He complimented and encouraged her. He shared his own mishaps with a sense of humor that made her less annoyed with her own incompetence. He gave her hope that she could learn, and pride when she did.”