I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Revell. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.
A Passionate Hope by Jill Eileen Smith Series: Daughters of the Promised Land Book #4
Published by Baker Books on February 6th 2018
Genres: Christian, Fiction, General, Historical, Romance
Pages: 368
Source: Revell
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Hannah and her husband, Elkanah, share a deep and abiding love, for each other, for their God, and for his tabernacle at Shiloh. Greatly disturbed by the corruption of the priests, they long for restoration and pray for a deliverer. But nothing changes as the years pass. Years that also reveal Hannah to be barren.
Pressured by his family to take another wife, Elkanah marries Peninnah, who quickly begins to bear children. Disgraced and taunted by her husband's new wife, Hannah turns again to prayers that seem doomed to go unanswered. Do her devotion and kindness in the face of Peninnah's cruelty count for nothing? Why does God remain silent and indifferent to her pleas?
Travel back to the dusty streets of Shiloh with an expert guide as Jill Eileen Smith brings to life a beloved story of hope, patience, and deliverance that shows that even the most broken of relationships can be restored.
That moment when you pick up a book knowing that it’s 4th in a series yet also knowing that it will completely stand alone. That moment when you finish a book and NEED to read the rest of the series because yes, it stands alone, but it’s so amazingly good. That’s the moment I’m in. Biblical fiction is a genre that I really enjoy but don’t seem to make enough time to incorporate it more into my reading. That’s been slowly changing, especially as I discover new authors that can take a known (or sometimes little known) character or event from the Bible and make it come to life. Jill Eileen Smith is one of those authors.
Hannah is only mentioned in the first two chapters of 1 Samuel as the barren wife of Elkanah and the mother of Samuel. She is never again mentioned in the Bible. She was the first, and favored wife, of her husband even though his second wife, Peninnah, had his children. I loved how the author took so much from the Bible passages and used them in this book. I loved that she took a woman whose overall role in the Bible was minimal but whose overall sacrifice was immense for the Israelites. Elkanah loved Hannah, loved her deeply despite not having a son with her. Peninnah gave him many children but still did not have his heart. In her bitterness she mistreated Hannah and went out of her way to make her miserable. Despite all of this Hannah held strong. Saddened and hurt but strong. Secure in her knowledge of her husband’s love and most importantly God’s love for her.
Smith took an amazing person from the Bible and made her so real in today’s world. Women still deal with the hurts of being childless. Women still deal with the hurts of bullying. Women still deal with the struggle of finding their whole trust in God and worshiping where they are in every moment. This book developed an enduring love between Elkanah and Hannah. This book remained so true to the words from the Bible. With such a solid, Biblical focused, story that tells a story of the past and made it relevant to the future is amazingly well developed with depth of character that is sometimes hard to find. This story took real people with minimal available information and created such depth that I wasn’t ready to let it go. I fell in love with Hannah. I fell in love with her heart, her spirit, and passion.
About Jill Eileen Smith
Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Wives of King David series, the Daughters of the Promised Land, the Wives of the Patriarchs, and The Loves of King Solomon series. Her research has taken her from the Bible to Israel, and she particularly enjoys learning how women lived in Old Testament times.
When she isn’t writing, she loves to spend time with her family and friends, read stories that take her away, ride her bike to the park, snag date nights with her hubby, try out new restaurants, or play with her lovable, “helpful” cat Tiger. Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.
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