Every month I endeavor to come up with a list of books to recommend if you liked BTB’s monthly book club selection. Some months are easier than others, with this month’s list a real head scratcher. You see, Francine Rivers is really in a class all her own — few authors compare. So I am going to go the easy way out and recommend some of her older contemporary fiction novels that my book club also loved. If you haven’t read them, I recommend you put them at the top of your TBR pile!
And The Shofar Blew
In the Old Testament, God called His people to action with the blast of the shofar, a ram’s horn. He still calls His people today.
In this relevant and timely novel, dynamic young preacher Paul Hudson is committed to building his church―but at what cost? When Paul accepted the call to pastor the struggling church, he had no idea what to expect. But it didn’t take long for Paul to turn Centerville Christian Church around. Attendance is up, way up, and everything is going so well. If only his wife, Eunice, could see it that way. Still, he tries not to let her quiet presence distract him. But Eunice knows that something isn’t right . . . and it hasn’t been for a long time.
The more Paul’s zeal and ambition builds, the more he loses sight of the One who called him. As Paul and those around him struggle to discern what it truly means to live out their faith, they must ultimately choose between their own will and God’s plan.
Leota’s Garden
Leota’s garden was once a place of beauty, where flowers bloomed and hope thrived. It was her refuge from the deep wounds inflicted by a devastating war, her sanctuary where she knelt before a loving God and prayed for the children who couldn’t understand her silent sacrifices.
Now, eighty-four-year-old Leota Reinhardt is alone, her beloved garden in ruins. All her efforts to reconcile with her adult children have been fruitless, and she voices her despair to a loving Father, her only friend.
Then God brings a wind of change through unlikely means: one, a college student who thinks he has all the answers; the other, the granddaughter Leota never hoped to know. But can the devastation wrought by keeping painful family secrets be repaired before she runs out of time?
The Scarlet Thread
Two women, centuries apart, are joined through a tattered journal as they contend with God, husbands, and even themselves . . . until they fall into the arms of the One who loves them unconditionally. Sierra Madrid’s life has just been turned upside down when she discovers the handcrafted quilt and journal of her ancestor Mary Kathryn McMurray, a young woman who was uprooted from her home only to endure harsh conditions on the Oregon Trail. Though the women are separated by time and circumstance, Sierra discovers that many of the issues they face are remarkably similar. By following Mary Kathryn’s example, Sierra learns to surrender to God’s sovereignty and unconditional love.
Redeeming Love will probably always be my favorite. That book blew me away!
It is on my book club’s best of the best list.
A Daughter’s Dream and A Mother’s Hope remain among my favorite Christian fiction titles.
We liked those too.