Janette Oke is a name well-known among Christian Fiction circles. Her books have graced a thousand bookshelves, passed between friends at church, and been treasured finds at thrift stores. Several of her works have birthed film adaptions, such as the Love Comes Softly movies and When Calls the Heart series. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise to me to see her most recent release at the library– The Pharisee’s Wife–but it was.

For one, Janette is no less than 90 years old! Always a bit of a skeptic, I remember scrutinizing the front, back, and inside covers looking for another author who must have co-written Oke’s vision and released it under her name. But as 2nd Corinthians 12:9 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” I truly believe God worked through Janette’s years and enabled her to write, to my mind, her finest work.

In fairness, I haven’t read a great portion of the staggering 70+ novels Oke has penned. Speaking humbly–with respect for how much she contributed to the Christian Fiction genre–I didn’t connect with most of those I tried. The romances, in particular, often felt cliche and even a bit hammy to me… I’ll never forget one chapter from When Calls the Heart where the female protagonist faints dramatically and is predictably gathered up in the arms of the ever-ready handsome Mountie.

Whether we see eye to eye in that regard– adore Oke or nay– I hope you will give The Pharisee’s Wife an opportunity. The book reads as a different flavor of love story– a love story to the Gospel, a love story to God’s people waiting expectantly for Him to come again, and a love story to ordinary women. It connects you to the heart of a young girl during Jesus’ first coming, trying to make sense of everything she is hearing about the “teacher” both from his followers and from her Pharisee husband, who bitterly hates Him.

The Pharisee’s Wife is set in a completely different time and culture than Janette has typically written in all her life, yet it felt natural and well researched. Mary–the titular wife– isn’t “ahead of her time.” She doesn’t think or talk like a modern woman, and I find that refreshingly realistic. She’s little more than a child, raised in an insular, tiny village… naive, innocent, and unsophisticated. She’s also kind, discerning, and warmly endearing.

Mary “ties the knot” with a Pharisee–a total stranger–and in turn her family receives a dowry that will help her crippled father live a comfortable life. Her husband, Enos, is neither gentle nor generous. Thankfully (depending on how you look at it) he spends most of his marriage away from home, trying to make an end of Jesus.

The book isn’t without flaws. The book lost steam in the second half– and the ending in particular left me somewhat unsatisfied. There were hints at directions I thought the book was headed that never led to a conclusion (some characters in particular were left dangling). There was one scene where the Gospel is shared, and I remember noting it felt unnatural, somehow. While the Gospel certainly has not changed since Jesus first shared it– repentance and belief in the Messiah for forgiveness of sins– I doubt the earliest believers sounded like TV evangelists. Especially since Jesus hadn’t even died or risen yet, so their understanding of his teachings wasn’t “complete.” I wished that Jesus’ actual words had been quoted.

That said, after reading the Note from the Author at the end of the book, I had a newfound respect even for some of the plot points I would have preferred to tweak. Janette intentionally left the ending a bit anticlimactic, pointing forward to Christ’s return, “for the climax of God’s great plan is still in the future.” Some of her character arcs made more sense when she explained that she wished to remind readers that “…it is not always the person we would choose as worthy who makes the important decision of becoming a believer. God has given each individual free will. We deeply grieve over those we love who do not choose to repent and believe. At other times, one whom we see as the greatest sinner does seek forgiveness and God responds in mercy.” While imperfect (as all books are besides our Heavenly Father’s), The Pharisee’s Wife left me with spiritual food to chew on and ultimately honored our Lord. I commend the author for this thoughtful story and her prayer, with which I will close:

“To you who hold this book in your hands, no matter the time or your circumstances, may you know that I have prayed for you, that in some way, as only God through his Spirit can do, your heart may be touched to meet whatever is your present, personal need.”