Realistic Christian Writing by Francine Rivers

When I'm ready for a break from reading writing that challenges my mind to venture out of its comfortable confines, I turn to reading fiction. Usually, I end up reading at least one book of Christian historical romance. This genre is usually so predictable; it's difficult not to finish a book in one day or less, if I have the time to do so. On top of being predictable, I find that Christian historical fiction or historical romance fiction is often horribly written. Characters are not fully fleshed out psychologically, and events happen in rapid sequence that doesn't leave much room for suspense.

However, I've found one author who has actually impressed me so much with a few of her books that I have read a few of them twice, which is something I never do. Francine Rivers is by far my favorite Christian historical fiction writer. She does her historical research, and she makes the characters come alive in a way I haven't seen in any other book of the same genre. Her love for God and Christ are evident in her pages, and there is a tone of pragmatism and reality, and a lack of fear to state and thoroughly explore the dirt and filth of normal life. I relish these qualities in her writing. Here are a few of her books that I have found particularly superb.

The Mark of the Lion Trilogy (A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, and As Sure as the Dawn) are by far my favorites of her books. They are set in Rome, a generation after Christ's death. Hadassah, the main character very rarely ever seems to do anything wrong, even as she's torn from her family and becomes a slave to a Roman. She's beaten up, humiliated, and even thrown to the lions in the literal sense (The latter is a pretty gory part.), but she keeps her faith and shares it with others by example. Hadassah might seem a little too perfect, but she is a formidable woman in a time and situation that strains her to her limit. The last book in the trilogy is not so much about Hadassah as about another character that comes up in the first two books. The main character is Atretes the gladiator. He is an integral part of Hadassah's story, and this book follows his leaving Rome to return home to his Germanic tribe. It is not nearly as engaging as the other two.

The Atonement Child deals with the unsupportive forces and people in the life of a young woman who was raped and ends up pregnant. She loses the man she was going to marry as he thinks she's not worth having now, and everyone wants her to get an abortion. She struggles to find the right path for herself and the baby, and she goes through some serious soul-searching. This is a great read. This is NOT historical fiction, and I usually don't like books set in contemporary times. This is another of Rivers' books that takes a very possible real situation and delves into the dark thoughts and gritty ins and outs of nearly its every circumstance and situation.

Redeeming Love takes the Biblical story of Hosea who marries a prostitute and goes after her several times when she runs away (an allegory for how God pursued Israel during the times she went off and was doing her own thing) from him and turns it into the same sort of story in 19^th century California. This book will shake its reader with its reality and exploration of the physical and spiritual sides of love. This is Rivers' first novel, and a fantastic read.