Unshaken

Unshaken: Ruth (Lineage of Grace #3)
Francine Rivers

Book Summary: A beautiful retelling of the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz. Ruth gave up everything, expected nothing, and God honored her. Readers will be encouraged by the truth that God will faithfully provide for His children even when all hope seems lost.

Review: My favorite of the series. It is a magnificent retelling of the story of Ruth & Boaz. Ms. Rivers does a reverent writing of this story with details that are fiction but believable. She honors the scriptures but set up this retelling with scripture and historic details that go together beautifully. I loved the entire series but this novella was my favorite.

This story of Ruth as told by Francine Rivers is yet another good read I enjoyed. Having watched a few movie portrayals of Ruth, the dutiful daughter-in-law to Naomi, I was eager to see what the novella would include. Not only did it have a backstory on the lives of Naomi and Ruth, it added more depth to their characters than I would have thought about, making it a believable account. The only thing I would have changed were the brief commentaries by the rest of the onlookers who were observing their lives. Whenever the women or men would have snippets of conversations between them about Naomi or Ruth, it seemed to break up the flow of the story.

Overall, I'd say the novella was still worth reading, and Francine Rivers managed to capture show more the emotions of what would have been felt by the grieving widows who together had to learn how to trust the God they served and what He had in store for them. As has been the case with the other stories of women of the Bible whom Francine writes about, Ruth was not an Israelite by birth, but a woman who came into the faith because of the support and love she received from someone who was - and in this case was her mother-in-law. Because women of her their time were held by strict laws, it makes me more remarkable to me that someone who clearly was foreign had the ability to be accepted by God's people, as an ancestor to Jesus! Reading this story was a delightful way to spend my Sunday, while giving my own faith a boost. show less

Rivers does a good job portraying the fictionalized story of Ruth from the Bible. She bases it on the facts provided in the Bible and then provides her own story with the thoughts and feelings of Ruth, Boaz and Naomi. It does feel a bit more like a Bible study than a fictional book though and didn't shed any new thoughts on the story for me.

Lineage of Grace:

This collection of novellas brings insight into the lives of five women who are named in the lineage of Jesus Christ. These were ordinary women, yet God chose them to accomplish His purpose in history and bring about a greater good than they could have imagined!

The individual novellas are titled: Unveiled (Tamar), Unashamed (Rahab), Unshaken (Ruth), Unspoken (Bathsheba), and Unafraid (Mary).

Tamar’s boldness, determination, and unconditional loyalty to her family; Rahab’s and Ruth’s simple, unshakable faith in the God of Israel despite being foreigners; Bathsheba’s growth in both character and faith in the face of incredible struggles and high stakes; and Mary’s journey to understanding her son’s true purpose show more on this earth – they all inspire me to live as they did, trusting in God wholeheartedly and striving to do His will in everything.

Always worth a re-read! show less

NO OF PAGES: 183 SUB CAT I: Fiction SUB CAT II: SUB CAT III: DESCRIPTION: This book is a beautiful retelling of the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz by award winning author Francine Rivers. You will be encouraged by the truth that God will faithfully provide for His children even when all hope seems lost.NOTES: Purchased online from CBD. SUBTITLE: Ruth--One of five unlikely women who changed eternity.

in the Women of Faith series, this one is about Ruth. Very good for making the people in the Bible and their times come alive.

I used this book to help teach a study on Ruth.