Eleanor Bertin

Two families, worlds apart. Can they find hope in the crucible of suffering?All Lynnie Min ever wanted was to be a wife and mother. But when tragedy strikes her family, she's left with nothing but her faith to begin life again. While pursuing a career she never wanted, can the precious faith she was raised on withstand betrayal by a hostile former friend, now a professor whose ideologies conflict with her own? And why do her puzzling dreams feature only one of her daughters, not both?Out of a smoking ruin in northern Nigeria, Ihsan bin Ibrahim stumbles upon the solution to his wife's barrenness and longing. But family ties have a long reach. Will he make the ultimate sacrifice to follow his conscience, even if it means losing the child he loves?

Life has been going as planned for biologist Dr. Robert Fielding until he's hit by a squall that threatens to shipwreck him. Tormented by the losses in his life, he resists the friendship of his new neighbour, Anna Fawcett. After all, a senior and her son with Down syndrome aren't exactly in his leagueBut Anna's fresh cinnamon buns come with a side of innocent questions that erode his faith in naturalism and collide with his assumptions about life, love and truth. Have his foundational beliefs been the cause of his personal losses? As he searches for answers, Anna's example of loving integrity keeps him coming back. Or maybe it's her homemade pies. Yet to risk re-thinking his core convictions for a chance at personal peace would expose his soul and tear open an old wound.

Perfectionistic librarian Jacqui Penn is ripped up by the roots when she's dumped by her longtime boyfriend. Rootless and on the run, she is drawn two thousand miles west across Canada to the last place she ever thought could offer stability-the old homestead where her father grew up.Renovating the derelict house soon becomes a personal battle as it stubbornly resists her efforts. While Jacqui struggles to renew the home, she spends time with the family Pops bitterly resented. Her hunger for roots grows stronger as she fights to discover the long-buried reasons her father fled the house as a beleaguered teen. But will she ever find the belonging she craves?

Some lives speak volumes Some are silent as the grave Dearly beloved - that's what the obituaries say - never hinting at the conflict, shame or sin that lie behind the veil. In October 2012, Paul, the author's 18-year-old son was killed by a hit-and-run driver while walking home from an evening performing with his punk rock band. Amid the grief of loss, she is burdened over his life that seemed to be headed in the wrong direction and their strained relationship. Dogged by grief, guilt, blame and shame, she relives every memory searching for that conclusive evidence that he did after all, belong to Christ. Clinging to the Biblical doctrines of grace, the truth she knows wrestles with the longing of her heart. Can she trust God, with even this?