"Ruchti has a gift for taking characters through their grief and lifting them to a place higher than themselves . . . The message of hope in a situation that seems hopeless is especially needed now."--Library Journal starred review "An emotional roller coaster of loss, faith, hope, and redemption. I couldn't stop reading."--Debbie Macomber, #1 New York Times bestselling author *** While her humanitarian husband Liam has been digging wells in Africa, Mara Jacobs has been struggling. She knows she's supposed to feel a warm glow that her husband is nine time zones away, caring for widows and orphans. But the reality is that she is exhausted, working a demanding yet unrewarding job, trying to manage their three detention-prone kids, failing at her to-repair list, and fading like a garment left too long in the sun. Then Liam's three-year absence turns into something more, changing everything and plunging her into a sunless grief. As Mara struggles to find her footing, she discovers that even when hope is tenuous, faith is fragile, and the future is unknown, we can be sure we are not forgotten . . . or unloved. With emotionally evocative prose that tackles tough topics with tenderness and hope, award-winning author Cynthia Ruchti invites you on a journey of the heart you won't soon forget. "Ruchti delivers well-rounded, believable characters and has a sure hand at charting the ways they process complex emotions. This packs an emotional punch."--Publishers Weekly "Ruchti delves deeply into the ebb and flow of Mara's struggles and weaves in themes of guilt, betrayal, hope, and redemption."--Booklist

It is one thing to live with the consequences of your own choices. But what happens when your life is forever altered because of someone else's toxic actions? With the assurance of a God who hears and understands, Ragged Hope reaches out to survivors and those who care about, counsel, or long to make a difference in their lives.

For years, society and especially the church required that we hide our brokenness and pretend that all was well, even when it was terribly broken. Now, people have become comfortable with our tattered edges, our character weaknesses, our "old, familiar sins," and forgotten that God doesn't intend to leave us in a state of disrepair. God calls us to something other than the wild pendulum swing from hiding our scars to flaunting them. Rather than resigning ourselves to desperately clinging to shreds of recovery, or discarding the broken, threadbare, scarred relationships, we can engage in the process of healing through Christ. Jesus reclaims what we fear was damaged beyond repair. His soul-mend leaves hope where the wound once was. And, as we engage in the process of healing, we grow in appreciation of how God tends and transforms our wounds.

Where do you turn when changing your name doesn t give you the anonymity you want? When running hundreds of miles away isn t far enough? When your search for a place to belong lands you right back where you began? One phone call destroys all hope Becca Morrow has for a life beyond the shame of her past. Further discredited by the death of her elderly, ailing patient the mother of the influential businessman, Isaac Hughes Becca s new life is shattered and her longing for love slips away. Working to clear her name, Becca must learn to see the beauty in the ugliness of dying, to accept the precious tenderness in forgiveness, and at last discover that where she belongs isn t as much about her family history as it is about her faith in the One to whom she ll always belong. "

Emmalyn and Max Ross may have to endure the fight of their lives to mend the tattered fabric of their marriage. His actions ensured she could never be a mother and put him in prison, giving their relationship a court-mandated five-year time-out. On a self-imposed exile to beautiful but remote Madeline Island, one of the Apostle Islands of Lake Superior, Emmalyn has just a few months left to figure out if and how they can ever be a couple again. Nudged along by the exuberant owner of the Wild Iris Inn and Cafe, a circle of misfit people in their small town, and a young girl who desperately needs someone to love her, Emmalyn restores an island cottage that could become a home and begins to restore her heart by learning what it means to love unconditionally. Yet even as hope begins to find a place within the cottage walls, Emmalyn still wonders if she's ready for Max's release. She may be able to rebuild a cottage, but can she rebuild a marriage?