Redeeming Love: One of Francine Rivers’ Best-Selling Novels
A Look into the 2022 Film Adaptation
Redeeming Love is an amazing story that continues to change the way people experience and think about romance, as it redefines what love truly means in modern society. The book explores how two people from different backgrounds can come together, forgive each other, and find true love despite all odds. Redeeming Love challenges us to look at our own relationships and how we can learn to trust, forgive, and love each other unconditionally. With its powerful message of hope, faith, and redemption, this novel has impacted generations in many positive ways and continues to influence us today.
So, who is Francine Rivers?
Francine Rivers was born in 1947 and is a well-known American Christian fiction author. She has written many fan faves and bestselling novels including such books as her critically acclaimed Mark of the Lion series and The Last Sin Eater. She became a born-again-Christian in 1986 and has inspired others through her writing ever since.
The Early Years
Francine Rivers always knew that she wanted to one day become a published author. To see her goals achieved, she worked hard through school. She eventually went on to attend the University of Nevada, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and journalism. Upon completion of her studies, she got a job as a newspaper reporter, writing obituaries and human-interest stories.
The First of Many!
Francine’s mother-in-law gave her some romance novels to read, which soon prompted her to write in that genre. She sold her first manuscript for publication in 1976 and continued to write for several years afterward.
For three years after the advent of her new faith in 1986, she found it difficult to come up with plots for new novels. Consequently, she allotted more of her time to studying the Bible instead and began adapting her writing efforts towards more Christian themed inspirational love stories.
Redeeming Love – The Book
Her first novel, the one which we are discussing in this blog post, Redeeming Love, was released in 1991.
Rivers’ creative retelling of the Old Testament book about the prophet Hosea and his wife Gomer, takes place on the American frontier in the 1850s.
It tells the tragic love story of a young woman named Angel, who is struggling with the demons of her past – a past that was made for her by the choices of others. Taken from a brothel in a small western mining town at 18, she finds the stoic patience and love of a frontier farmer named Michael Hosea, and his determination to help her feel the healing power of unconditional love.
Characters of Redeeming Love…
Prologue
- Angel AKA Sarah AKA Mara AKA Tirzah AKA Amanda, Daughter of a prostitute named Mae and Alex Stafford
- Mae, Sarah’s mother
- Alex Stafford, Mae’s married lover, Sarah’s father
- Cleo, Mae’s maid
- Rab, drunkard, Mae’s friend
- Sally, madam in Duke’s brothel
- Duke, brothel owner
Defiance: Chapters 1-14
- Duchess, madam/owner of The Palace(brothel)
- Magowan, hired muscle of The Palace
- Lucky, prostitute in The Palace
- Mae Ling, prostitute in The Palace
- Rebecca, prostitute in The Palace
- Joseph Hochschild, Jewish store owner, friend of Michael Hosea
- Michael Hosea, farmer, husband of Angel, brother of Tess, brother-in-law of Paul.
- Paul, gold miner, brother-in-law of Michael
- Tess, deceased, wife of Paul, sister of Michael
Fear: Chapters 15-21
- Elizabeth Altman, wife of John, mother of Miriam, Ruthie, Jacob, Andrew, and Leah
- John Altman, Husband of Elizabeth, father of Miriam, Ruthie, Jacob, Andrew, and Leah
- Miriam Altman, 15-year-old daughter of John and Elizabeth Altman, Angel’s friend
- Leah Altman, middle daughter of John and Elizabeth Altman
- Ruthie Altman, youngest daughter of John and Elizabeth Altman
- Jacob Altman, 10-year-old son of John and Elizabeth Altman
- Andrew Altman, 8-year-old son of John and Elizabeth Altman
Humility: Chapters 22-Epilogue
- Sam Teal, old panhandler
- Virgil Harper, café owner, Angel’s boss
- Cherry, 13-year-old girl at Duke’s
- Faith, 8-year-old girl at Duke’s
- Jonathan Axle, banker, husband of Priscilla, father of Susanna
- Priscilla Axle, wife of Jonathan, mother of Susanna
- Susanna Axle, daughter of Jonathan and Priscilla, friend of Angel
Redeeming Love – The Movie
This 2022 adaptation of Redeeming Love was produced by Universal Pictures and starred a glowing cast: Abigail Cowen, Tom Lewis, Logan Marshal-Green, Eric Dane, Famke Janssen, and Nina Dobrev.
I will attempt to keep to some form of the timeline; however, it must be made clear from the first that the film jumps all over the place, its scenes are out of order, and there is a lot from the book that was left out of the movie.
The Opening Scene
The film opens with a close-up of a miner sifting gravel in his pan. The river is full of men searching for gold and they all look wrung out. Then the scene swiftly changes to show the small mining town of Pair-a-Dice. Men of all types are gathered in front of The Palace waiting to see whose number will be drawn from the lottery for Angel’s time, while she looks down on them from her bedroom window and has a flashback. This is not how the book began.
In the book, Angel (Sarah) is a child, living with her mother, Mae, in a pretty country cottage with a flower garden to play in. The first scene in the book has Sarah standing in front of her father, Alex Stafford, hoping that he will like her, while Mae waits anxiously. He is not happy and confronts Mae after sending Sarah from the room.
The flashback is where the movie shows the scene with Sarah meeting Alex. They did keep the basic feel of the scene and most of the dialogue was on point, but there were changes made. These changes leave me wondering why they would exclude anything in the first place.
Sarah…
The adorable daughter of a fallen woman and her benefactor. All she wants is love and acceptance but gets a broken heart instead. While the film tried to show this, it left out her inner thoughts and self-recrimination. It also took liberties with her age, some of her dialogue, and where we see her before and after her father’s visit.
Mae…
What about her mother, Mae? The book says that she is a beautiful blonde woman with blue eyes. The movie shows her with dark hair and eyes, when in fact it is Alex with the dark features. Why did they switch? I have no idea.
She is deeply in love with Alex Stafford and only seeks to please him. She fails – miserably. When she is abandoned by him, the book says that she tried to go home to her parents. The movie left that out entirely.
Alex Stafford…
The only thing they got right about this character is most of the dialogue and his attitude toward Sarah and Mae. Otherwise, they made a hash of it. First, as mentioned under Mae, he was not blonde in the book. He also did not arrive at Mae’s cottage in a carriage. The book clearly has him coming and going on the back of a big black horse. The entire scene was littered with minor changes.
The Duchess…
The next thing we see is the Duchess and her lacky, Magowan, choosing the winning number and announcing that there will be no more for that day. The first thing I’d like to make clear is that the Duchess in the movie is in her prime, with black hair, and a slim figure. This is totally inaccurate according to the book. The book clearly states that she is old, gray, and fat. How in the world could they get that wrong? Are there no old, gray, and fat women in Hollywood?
Cleo…
Let’s visit Cleo next since the film inserted a memory scene. Cleo works for Mae as some sort of maid. The book gives the impression that she is a thirty something white woman. She has a dark past that alludes to her possibly being an ex-prostitute, though she could have just been loose with her favors.
The first time we really get to know what she’s like is when Mae has Cleo take Sarah away for a while. Cleo doesn’t like it, but she does it anyway and ends up giving Sarah a drunken speech about men and “God’s own truth”. I must mention here as well that Sarah was seven years old when this scene happened, and she was terrified. The movie is not accurate in this; Sarah looks to be more like nine or ten in that scene.
The movie shows Cleo as being a youngish black woman and, when she tells Sarah about men, she is stone cold sober and has not taken Sarah from the house. The book has the scene taking place in an inn on the coast, so the movie is way off there too.
Good Intentions, Criminal Outcome…
The scenes of Angel’s (Sarah’s) childhood are spread throughout the movie. That is why I’m going to go with the book from this point on. We must now look at the time right after Mae’s death. This is a time of sorrow and uncertainty for young Sarah. She is left in the care of her mother’s friend Rab with Mae’s request for him to take care of her daughter. Rab isn’t bright and we soon see her sold to Duke – a man of unholy delights and evil predilections.
Let’s now dig into these scenes and see how they all fared.
In The Movie…
- When Mae is dying, she prays with Sarah. This is incorrect.
- Sarah is not given her mother’s necklace in the book; it was her mother’s rosery that she received.
- A good portion of the dialogue has been altered in various degrees from what’s in the book.
- It leaves out the storms and the tin cans that Sarah put out to collect rainwater.
Rab…
The book says that Rab was a drunk, living with Mae and Sarah on the docks, and spending much of his time in taverns. He isn’t very bright but has a good heart. The movie portrays him as being too cultured in both dress and mannerism.
He wants to do right by Sarah and fulfill Mae’s wishes, so he goes looking for someone to give her a good home. This is one part that the screenwriters did well. Aside from the character differences, the dialogue is very close to accurate. They did however leave out a few scenes that should have been left in – like when he took Sarah to get cleaned up to meet her new “father”.
Sally…
They did a fairly good job with Sally. The dialogue and her attitude when she let Rab and Sarah into the house are accurate, so let’s move on to Duke.
Duke…
Aw, Duke. Every story needs a villain and that is he. But how did the movie’s account of him compare to the book?
They tried. The feel of who Duke was took some time in coming. He doesn’t advance into the room ahead of his servant, but rather behind. It almost seems like he is not sure if he wants to enter or not.
In the book, he radiates much more confidence, dark power, and cold danger. They did get around to showing that, but it took a minute.
As for the dialogue between him and Rab, it wasn’t quite right either. In fact, it wasn’t the last time that the screenwriters changed his lines from those in the book. It happened in all of his scenes to varying degrees.
Angel…
Angel had a different name as a child. Her name was Sarah.
However, when Duke asked for her name, she refused to tell him, so he called her Angel. It stuck.
So, what about Angel in Redeeming Love, the book, and Redeeming Love, the movie?
Angel is jaded by her life. The movie shows this fairly well in most places but loses touch with it in others. Like when she is at the table with the other young women in The Palace. In the book, she gets angry. In the movie, less so. And the movie leaves out some of that scene as well as some of the dialogue.
Angel and Lucky
She spends time with her seemingly only friend, Lucky. While Lucky’s story is rather accurate, the movie has Mae Ling tell hers as well. The book never talks very much about Mae Ling, and Angel never drinks with her. The scene in the book where Angel drinks with Lucky was changed to add Mae Ling. I will also mention here that Lucky is described as an old prostitute that drank too much, but the movie cast her as younger and more sober than expected.
Angel and Michael
Then there are Michael’s visits to her in The Palace. While much of the dialogue was kept, the scenes don’t hold with those in the book. Firstly, Angel is dressed in a silk wrap and lets him in at the door. The movie shows her standing in front of the mirror in her birthday suit and calls for him to enter. Then it shows her putting on her wrap and laying on the bed. The book simply has her sitting on the bed dangling her foot. And, when his half hour with her are up, it is Magowan who tells him it’s time to leave.
The film has Angel do it.
As for Michael, the film has watered him down. Yes, he is soft spoken and gentle, but the book shows us that he can be roused to temper when justifiably provoked. The film doesn’t show that very well, leaving us to see him as weaker than he is. His calm demeaner has nothing to do with weakness and has everything to do with patience and love.
There is so much more that is incorrect between the book and film that it would take many, many more pages to tell it all. Though the film left out scenes and major characters; like Sam Teal, Jonathan Axle, and Susanna Axle, changed and added dialogue, and took other liberties; I will simply say that both the book and the movie are each an experience of its own and both can be enjoyed.
Conclusion…
The screenwriters, producers, and actors of this film did a wonderful job creating an old west romance. It was full of action and passion…and sorrow. The time period was portrayed well and you could almost feel what it must have been like to be there.
That being said, they wandered far afield of the book by watering down the characters and changing or removing scenes and dialogue. This was a disappointment for me because the movie lost much of the rich flavor that Ms. Rivers put into the novel.
I do still recommend both the film and the book, and hope that those who choose to spend time with Michael and Angel will find a nugget or two to take into their own lives and relationships. The book is a gem that anyone can learn something from. Enjoy!