As soon as I started reading Bridge to Haven, I couldn’t put
it down. It was a wonderfully beautiful story loosely based on Ezekiel 16. I
wept at parts as well. Francine Rivers is an amazing, gifted writer, and though
this tale reminds me a lot of “Her Daughter’s Dream” and Carolyn, actually I
could kind of predict the story based on that and Redeeming Love, I still
immensely enjoyed the book and couldn’t put it down!
An infant girl is born and abandoned under a Bridge in the
town of Haven, California. A pastor, Ezekiel, who does an early morning prayer walk
rescues her. Even though he tries to have someone else adopt her, his wife
loves the little girl, whom they name Abra, and decides to claim her as their
own, raising her along with their young son, Josh. However, his wife suffered
from rheumatic fever and soon succumbed to death. Ezekiel knows he can’t raise
the five-year-old, whom he has never felt comfortable with anyway because he
didn’t think God wanted him to do it but he gave in to his wife’s pleas, so he
does what’s best for her and sends her to live with another family, who had
originally wanted to raise her. However, being only five at the time, Abra only
feels abandoned by Zeke and can’t understand, and of course no one explains
this to her until it’s too late.
**May Contain Spoilers
Abra blames God because Zeke abandoned her, and struggles to
trust anyone, except Josh. Then one day she meets Dylan, a charming, dangerous
young man. She runs away with him, and he essentially rapes her the first night
they are together. However, for some reason he’s attracted to her, and keeps
her around even though he hadn’t kept any of the others around. He becomes very
abusive and controlling quickly. Then, after a time, he dumps her with Franklin
Moss, a Hollywood agent. He turns her into Lena Scott, and she has to work very
hard all the time and it begins to irritate her. After all, Franklin is twice
her age and she isn’t overly in love with him. However, following a forced
abortion Franklin (who pretends to marry her) forces on her, her eyes truly
begin to open to the mess her life is – and how much Joshua, her foster brother
and best friend, truly loves her with a pure, gracious love.
Personally, I enjoyed this modern novel the most since “The
Atonement Child” and “The Last Sin Eater.” It’s my top three. (I love all of
her biblical/historical fiction novels.) I think readers will be able to
connect with Abra and Joshua.
