Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

This was the very first book of our new book club and it was quite a substantial one to get through. The book is set in ninteenth century America and focuses on the character of Angel, a woman sold into prostitution as a child, who develops a hard attitude towards men to survive. Into her life walks Michael Hosea who has heard God tell him that Angel is the one he should marry. The story tracks the gradual development of a relationship between Michael and Angel, despite her every attempts to hurt, reject and run from his love.

This book parallels the story of the prophet Hosea in the Old Testament, which is a picture of Israel's constant unfaithfulness to God and also of his loving and forgiving nature, in spite of its rebellion. For Christians, Hosea is a powerful picture of Christ's redeeming love at the cross, so this book was an interesting and relevant concept.

Only a few of us met to discuss this book due to folk going away over the Easter break, however there was a wide range of opinions about it. Some have really loved this book and have praised its uplifting and encouraging picture of God's love for us a rebels. One lady commented that it had helped her to understand the message of Hosea more clearly for the first time. We all agreed that it made us want to go and read Hosea again!

Our pastor commented that it looked like a 'girly' book from the cover and he was rebuked for judging a book by its cover. However having read the book the general view was that it was quite a 'girly' book in as much as it was not a book most of us thought our husbands would enjoy.

At times it was a little repetitive, although that is the structure of the book of Hosea. The character of Michael Hosea would have made any man feel inadequate, and therefore at times some of us felt he was really quite unbelievable as a character, and yet the other side to that is that he represented the love of God in action, even when faced with hard nosed and often cruel rejection.

The subject matter was not an easy one at times, and one or two of our group almost gave up after the first few chapters due to the content.

Some of us were keen to read more of Francine Rivers work, as she has written so much, however those of us who met felt it was unlikely that we would read more of her books as she was simply 'not our type.'

In summary, Redeeming Love has many redeeming qualities. it is a lovely picture of the book of Hosea and therefore of God's love for us as rebellious and defiant sinners. It has encouraged and blessed a number of the group and some have passed it on to other people they know who have enjoyed it. It is fair to say that it is quite a girly book, not a work of great literary fiction and at times a bit repetitive and simplistic, however in these criticisms may lie its strengths and appeal. It was a great book to start this new group as it promoted fantastic discussions, a variety of views and confirmed that the discussion of any book is dictated as much by the reader's preferences as by the author's style and subject.