Redeeming Love

Redeeming Love is a 1991 historical romance novel written by Francine Rivers. It is set in California in the 1850s, during the Gold Rush. Taking its inspiration from the Biblical Book of Hosea, it is built upon the foundation of the author's newfound Christian beliefs.

The Prologue opens the novel in New England, 1835. Sarah, a 6-year-old girl, meets her father for the first time and learns that she is the product of an adulterous affair. Her mother misses her father, who wanted the child aborted. Sarah blames herself. Cleo, a maid, is told to take Sarah to the seashore, allowing her parents to spent time together. Cleo takes Sarah to a brothel and, after getting drunk, leaves Sarah in the cold hallway while she sleeps with a man. Cleo drunkenly tells Sarah that men only care about sex. Sarah’s mother falls on hard times and they move to New York, where her mother becomes a prostitute. Sarah learns to hide her emotions beneath a hard exterior. Her mother dies, and Sarah is left with her drunk uncle. He tries to find a home for Sarah and sells her to a wealthy man named Duke, who kills Sarah’s uncle as she watches. Duke, a pedophile, rapes Sarah and renames her Angel.

Ten years later, Sarah escapes from Duke and travels to California. On the ship, she is forced into prostitution and then robbed. Arriving broke in San Francisco, she is taken in by the Duchess, who owns a brothel in Pair-a-Dice. Sarah becomes the town’s most expensive prostitute. Michael Hosea, a local farmer, sees her while visiting the town and hears the voice of God telling him to marry Sarah. He pays her high fee to visit her each night and they talk, but he cannot break through her tough exterior. He becomes frustrated and leaves town, only to return a few days later and find that Sarah has been viciously beaten by the brothel’s security guard, Magowan. Michael asks Sarah to marry him, and when she halfheartedly agrees, he carries her home to his farm.

Although Michael nurses Sarah back to health, she remains antagonistic toward him. Because he does not know her real name, Michael tries several different names: Mara, Amanda, and Tirzah. Paul, Michael’s widowed brother-in-law, believes Michael is too good a man for an ex-prostitute. When Paul travels to Pair-a-Dice, Sarah asks to be taken along. He agrees but demands sex in payment. Sarah agrees. Paul is disgusted with himself and hopes to never see Sarah again. In town, the brothel has burned down and the Duchess is gone. Sarah begins working again in a local bar before Michael collects her, fighting away her prospective clients and taking her back to his cabin.

On the farm, Sarah slowly begins to develop feelings for Michael. However, she is ashamed of her past and scared of opening herself up emotionally. She runs away again, this time to Sacramento. She works in the store of Michael’s friend; Michael finds her shortly after. On the way home, they meet the Altman family, and Michael invites them to stay in his home. Sarah immediately tells them about her past, assuming they will be disgusted. They instead accept her, and Miriam, the eldest daughter, forms a strong bond with Sarah. One day, Sarah finally reveals to Michael that Duke forcibly sterilized her and that she can never have children. Knowing how much Michael hopes to be a father, she runs away again, hoping that Michael will marry Miriam and be happy. This time, Michael does not chase after her.

Sarah finds works as a cook but, after six months, the café burns down. As she picks through the debris, Duke appears behind her and takes her to his home. Trapped in his mansion, Sarah is told that she must start working as a prostitute once more. He takes her before a crowd of baying men. Sarah is terrified. She reaches out to God, as Michael taught her, and begins to hear God’s words. She sings a hymn on the stage, and when she falters, an elderly man at the back of the crowd joins her. This man is revealed to be Jonathan Axle, one of the city’s wealthiest men. He offers to lead her out of the establishment and Sarah agrees, but first she collects the young girls Duke has been raping. Axle, Sarah, and the two young girls are led through the crowd, who quickly surmise what Duke has been doing. Axle takes Sarah to his home, introduces her to his family, and welcomes her to stay.

Meanwhile, Paul and Miriam marry. Michael waits for Sarah to return. Miriam instructs Paul to find Sarah, even though she knows that he loathes her. He reluctantly agrees and begins to search California. At the same time, Sarah realizes that her true calling is to help prostitutes escape their former ways and find respectable work. One day, Paul finds her, and they reconcile. Sarah agrees to return to Michael, and when they reunite, she finally tells him her real name. They start a new life together, finally happy now that Sarah has accepted God. In the Epilogue, it is revealed that Sarah miraculously gave birth to four children, and she and Michael shared a long, happy life together.