A Passionate Hope: Hannah's Story

Jill Eileen Smith is the bestselling, award-winning author of the Wives of King David, the Wives of the Patriarchs, the Loves of King Solomon, and the Daughters of the Promised Land 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 loveable, "helpful" cat Tiger.  Jill lives with her family in southeast Michigan.
You can connect with Jill a number of ways:

• Website
• Facebook
• Twitter

Can one woman's prayers change the world?

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?  Will God remain silent and indifferent to her pleas?

My Thoughts:
A Passionate Hope:  Hannah's Story is the fourth book in Smith's Daughter's of the Promised Land series.  Previous books in the series are:

• The Crimson Cord:  Rahab's Story
• The Prophetess:  Deborahs Story
• Redeeming Grace:  Ruth's Story

Smith's research is evident in her masterful attention to detail and description.  The way Smith weaves historical detail throughout the story is seamless.  She closely follows the Scriptural narrative and invokes creative license to fill in the "blanks" but in no way distorts the biblical truth.  
In A Passionate Hope, Smith shines a light on the corruption of the priesthood during Hannah and Elkanah's time which emphasizes the sacrifice it was for Hannah to release Samuel back to God as a young child to be raised in the temple.  Hannah's emotions are palpable through Smith's telling of her story.  And Hannah's story is one of hope and trust in the One True God Who sustains His people in the darkest and seemingly most hopeless of times.  Smith tells the story well.  You will be blessed by reading A Passionate Hope and driven to search the Scriptures for yourself.  

*I received a complimentary copy of the book.  All opinions stated here are my own.

Blessings,
Jennifer