Hope Between the Pages

By Pepper Basham

Grab your box of tissue before you start this book, because once you start it, you’re not going to want to put it down, and you’ll need the tissues handy.

I’m not sure I can do justice in my review except to say the book is lovely.

Basham pulls off the dual time story flawlessly

It’s a dual time story, which isn’t my favorite story method, mostly because you just get involved in one story only to be abruptly interrupted by the other. But, Basham has done the best job I’ve seen, because both stories so intertwine that you’re learning things about the past while living the story of the present. I didn’t have that feeling of interruption.

The characters are rich and you’d truly like them if they were real people you knew, except for the villains, who are dastardly indeed.

Oliver and Sadie are the couple from the past, and Clara and Max are the present day couple. Oliver and Clara saw people for their hearts, not for their station or appearance – just the way Jesus sees people. Sadie and Max needed to learn they were valuable for who they were, not what they did or how they looked.

Jesus sees the beauty of our hearts

In the end, the story to me is the story Jesus gives us. When he looks at us, he sees the love of His life. And whether we’re a janitor or a corporate mogul, or stunningly beautiful or plain, He sees us, and He sees our hearts.

In my Bible study this morning, I read a commentary that said Jesus didn’t call us to live life like it was a funeral, he called us to live it like we were celebrating a wedding. And that’s what Oliver taught Sadie, and that’s what sustained her all her life.

Clara taught Max he didn’t have to live in the shadows. He could come into the light and be free. And, isn’t that what Jesus does – brings us from the shadow of sin into His glorious light. 

Hope Between the Pages is a story of hope. A hope we all can have if we trust the One who loves us most.