Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
"Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers is a romance novel that serves as a modern retelling of the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer. Set in the mid-1800s, the narrative follows Sarah, who is named Angel by a wealthy man after a traumatic childhood marked by rejection and exploitation. As a high-priced prostitute, Angel struggles with feelings of worthlessness and guilt, but her life takes a turn when Michael Hosea, a man guided by divine inspiration, seeks to marry her despite her past.
Throughout the story, themes of unconditional love, redemption, and forgiveness are central as Angel grapples with her identity and the burdens of her past. Michael's relentless love aims to break through Angel's barriers, leading her on a journey of healing and self-discovery. The novel illustrates how God's love can transform lives, emphasizing that no one is beyond redemption, no matter their circumstances. Ultimately, as Angel learns to accept love and forgiveness, she begins to shed her shame and embrace a future filled with hope and grace. This heartfelt tale invites readers to reflect on the power of love to heal and restore broken lives.
Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers
First published: 1991
Edition(s) used:Redeeming Love. Sisters, Oreg.: Multnomah, 1997
Genre(s): Novel
Subgenre(s): Romance
Core issue(s): Forgiveness; guilt; love; marriage; redemption; regeneration
Principal characters
Sarah , renamed Angel, the protagonist, a prostituteMichael Hosea , Angel’s husbandPaul , Michael’s brother-in-law, who intends to destroy AngelJohn Altman , whom, with his family, Michael and Angel rescue on the road from SacramentoElizabeth Altman , John’s wifeMiriam Altman , John and Elizabeth’s daughterDuke , who introduced Angel to the world of prostitutionJonathan Axle , an influential bankerSusannah Axle , Jonathan’s daughter
Overview
Redeeming Love is a both a romance novel and a modern retelling of the biblical story of Hosea and Gomer. The story, specifically aimed at a Christian audience, reveals the power of unconditional love to restore, heal, and redeem the wounded heart. As a child growing up in the mid-1800’s, Sarah discovers that her father did not want her to be born. Rejected by their family, society, and the church, Sarah and her mother ended up living on the docks, where her mother works as a prostitute until she dies of guilt and a broken heart, clinging tightly to her rosary. Sarah is taken to a wealthy man, called Duke, who names her Angel.
For ten years, Angel first is abused by Duke and then, as a high-priced prostitute, brings him influence and income. Used, unloved, and guilt-ridden, she escapes to California, where she unwillingly returns to prostitution in the gold town Pair-a-Dice. She gains hope when Michael Hosea arrives. Seeing Angel on a walk, Michael hears God whisper to him that he is to marry Angel. Despite his shock at her profession, he obeys and asks her to marry him. She rejects him until, nearly killed by the brothel bodyguard for demanding her freedom, she changes her mind in order to escape her life as a prostitute.
On Michael’s farm, Angel begins to heal, but despite Michael’s attempts to win her trust, she remains distant. As he begins to break down her barriers, she leaves for Pair-a-Dice but returns, intending to leave for good in the spring. Shortly after she comes back, Paul, Michael’s brother-in-law, returns from panning for gold and recognizes Angel. Convinced that she has tricked Michael into marrying her, Paul begins to undermine her new life. He helps her return to Pair-a-Dice, using her along the way, and she returns to prostitution until Michael comes and takes her home by force.
When back on the farm, they try to revive their relationship. Returning from a trip to Sacramento, they come across the Altman family’s broken-down wagon. Michael invites the Altmans to spend the winter on their farm before heading to Oregon, and the families become friends. In the spring, Michael talks John into staying in the valley with them. Angel begins to withdraw again and confesses the most sordid details of her past to Michael, but he renews his vows to her and finally breaches her barriers completely.
Afraid to be vulnerable, Angel runs away to Sacramento, where Joseph, a shopkeeper and Michael’s friend, gives her work and a place to stay until Michael again comes to get her. They return home, but Paul continues his vendetta against her by hinting that Michael should have married an innocent virgin like Miriam Altman. Angel begins to suspect that Miriam is in love with Michael. After convincing herself that Michael would be better off with Miriam, who could give him children, Angel leaves again when spring returns.
Making her way to San Francisco, Angel at first wanders the streets, facing the temptation to return to prostitution. For the first time, she begins to address God instead of running from him. At her most vulnerable point, God directs her to a small café, where she finds a job and a place to live. However, when a fire destroys the café six months later, she unexpectedly finds herself again face to face with Duke.
Duke takes her to his new establishment, and he offers a choice: manage his girls or be one of them again. Attempting to use her beauty to increase his power and influence, Duke arranges an elaborate introduction for her, but when she comes on stage, Angel undermines his plan by singing “Rock of Ages.” Jonathan Axle, an influential banker in the city and a believer who is in the crowd, comes to her aid. When she leaves the stage to face Duke’s anger, Axle rescues her, as well as two child prostitutes, freeing them from Duke’s power. Angel and the Axle family find new homes for the two rescued children, but Angel stays with them for three years, becoming friends with Susannah Axle, Jonathan’s daughter, and beginning to make a new life. As she begins to understand that she is free of her past, Angel grows in her faith and comes, finally, to believe in God and his offer of salvation.
During that time, Miriam finally persuades Paul to marry her, while Michael remains alone. At Miriam’s request, Paul unwillingly goes in search of Angel and finds her at the House of Magdelena, the ministry she has started in San Francisco with Susannah, which helps former prostitutes find new and productive lives. Face to face, they finally see the truth about themselves and each other, forgiving each other for all of their past mistakes. Paul reveals that Michael is waiting for her, and at his urging she returns with him to the valley to remain for good. At their reunion, Angel finally tells Michael her real name, Sarah, and they live together, raising five children, for the rest of their lives.
Christian Themes
As the title emphasizes, Redeeming Love considers the nature of love, particularly God’s unconditional love. The biblical story of the prophet Hosea’s difficult marriage to the unfaithful Gomer represented the unfaithfulness that the nation of Israel showed in its covenant relationship with God. Despite the Israelites’ sins of idolatry and selfish pride, however, God pursues them repeatedly, just as Hosea pursues Gomer. God works in the same way in the lives of several of the novel’s characters, pursuing them as persistently as Michael pursues Angel. God’s love, the story demonstrates, follows all people, no matter where they are or how many times they flee God’s presence. The novel repeatedly depicts characters stained with sin and surrounded by evil who are saved through God’s intervention. Biblical love redeems the sinful and the sick-hearted; it heals the wounded, removing their shame. As a prostitute, Angel knows only a love of shame; through Michael and others, she learns to shed her shame and fear.
The unconditional love of God also brings forgiveness. Though guilt drives both Angel and Paul from Michael and from each other, biblical love enables them to forgive each other and be forgiven, removing guilt and delivering hope and joy. Redeeming love also frees the human heart from the ties that bind it. While everyone else warns Angel to build walls to protect herself, Michael’s love, flowing from the love that God has shown him, breaks through her barriers, freeing Angel to live and to love as God intends.
Finally, redeeming love transforms a heart. From a hurting, wounded shadow, the love of God and his people change Angel into a humble, giving, loving servant, rendering her a woman of grace and mercy. Through the story of Michael and Angel, Redeeming Love portrays the truth of what happens when God’s love breaks through into a person’s heart.
Sources for Further Study
Eble, Diane. Behind the Stories. Minneapolis, Minn.: Bethany House, 2002. A chapter of this book of essays relates what Francine Rivers has learned through her writing about God, her writing, and herself.
“Finding Faith in Fact and Fiction.” Challenge Newsline, August, 2003, p. 3. A short article that describes Rivers’s development from a writer of romance novels to a writer of faith.
Hudak, Melissa, and Barbara Hoffert. “Book Reviews: Christian Fiction.” Library Journal 122, no. 18 (1997): 66. Includes a plot synopsis of the book Redeeming Love as well as a brief assessment of its quality.
Riggs, Jack R. Hosea’s Heartbreak. Neptune, N.J.: Loizeaux Brothers, 1983. A commentary on the biblical book of Hosea, providing an explanation and critical analysis of the text as well as lessons for personal application.