The Forgiving Hour (by Robin Lee Hatcher)

(Amazon UK link)

I wasn’t planning to read a Kindle book, but I had nothing much to do while waiting for some friends recently, and discovered that my phone’s Kindle app had some of my downloaded books available without me being online. I decided to try Robin Lee Hatcher’s novel ‘The Forgiving Hour’, which I picked up when it was on a free special offer three years ago. I read some of her books over a decade ago and thought she was one of the better American Christian writers, with some good storylines and not too much overt preaching. 

The book opens in quite a dramatic way. Claire is at home, obsessively cleaning and ensuring that the meal she has preferred is absolutely perfect. The reason, we learn, is that she’s about to meet her son’s fiancee Sara. Her son, Dakota, is in his twenties and she hasn’t yet met Sara, who she knows is eight years older than he is. Claire is not just nervous, she has a sense of foreboding. Yet what could possibly go wrong…?

Claire has a strange feeling that she’s met Sara somewhere before, when they finally arrive. And then Sara spots a photo taken when Dakota was much younger, in a different place. She asks where they lived… and then she and Claire both realise that there’s a shocking coincidence… something that makes Claire insist that Sara leave immediately. 

The story then goes back many years to Dakota’s childhood, when Claire and her husband Dave were - mostly - fairly content. We learn that they married rather young, as Claire was pregnant - and that after their son was born, she was unable to have any other children. He’s a bit of a chauvinist, and she’s pretty sure he had an affair in the past, but she’s managed to forgive him and hold the marriage together. But now he’s become moody again and she’s pretty sure he’s seeing someone else…

Claire’s viewpoint chapters alternate with Sara’s; she’s just 18 and embarking on life as a student. Because the reader knows from the first chapter what’s going to happen, it’s quite tense in places, but the author manages to give Sara’s perspective as well as Claire’s. Sara is not blameless in what happens, but she’s quite a well-written character whose viewpoint makes sense, even if one doesn’t agree with it. 

I liked Claire, who’s a strong person, albeit a bit insecure in herself. But when she’s left alone she finds work, and does everything she can to bring her son up as a well-rounded person. She doesn’t much like it when he becomes a Christian, and there’s a tad too much overt discussion about his faith (and I speak as a believer) but it’s fairly realistic; he’s been a moody teenager, albeit very fond of his mother, and gradually becomes more mature. 

I found the subject matter a bit surprising in a Christian novel; infidelity, adultery and other such topics are not normally covered quite so explicitly in a book of this nature. The author doesn't go into gratuitous detail and the novel is free of bad language, but someone who had read one of her more innocent books might find this shocking. It’s certainly not a book I’d want to give to a young teenager, as it covers so many adult situations. 

I also found the amount of Christianese rather overwhelming towards the end.  Clearly, given the title, there has to be some forgiveness, and it’s true that lack of forgiveness only really hurts the person who’s feeling bitter. But there’s a huge amount of introspection, and I found the last few chapters of the book rather cliched with pat answers and somewhat unlikely changes of mind. I’m all for a happy ending, and certainly believe that miracles happen; but the writing felt somewhat forced.

I found the story quite compelling, particularly when the flashback section moved to the present, and the story continued from the place where the prologue stopped. But it’s not one I am likely to read again, and it’s not one I’d recommend. I understand that the author wrote this in part based on personal experience, but Robin Lee Hatcher has written some much better books, in my view. 

Review copyright 2023 Sue's Book Reviews