She said when she met Abigail Cowen, she knew immediately the actor was perfect for the role of Angel, a hardened prostitute with a fragile beauty who hides her heart and feelings under a hard shell to survive a life of degradation and abuse. Filmmaking was a new challenge, and she took an integral role from the beginning, including in casting. It’s a high-flying time for the writer, who has a large international following but lives quietly in west Santa Rosa with Rick Rivers, her husband of 45 years. Her latest, “The Lady’s Mine,” publishes on Feb.
There’s nothing heavy-handed in it, but there is definitely hope all the way through it,” said Rivers, who at 74 is churning out page-turners, most of them historical romances laced with a message that reflects her own Christian faith. “It’s more of a mainstream love story, and it’s presented as a mainstream story. The movie carries an underlying message of Christian faith and redemption but attempts to do it with a light touch to appeal to a broader audience. To her surprise, Mission Pictures bought the script, giving her control over characters she created and fiercely protects.
Rivers bought a book on screenwriting and drafted a sample treatment of the story for Bond to review.
It was only when Cindy Bond, CEO of Mission Pictures International, a respected name in the faith/family film genre (including the 2018 movie “I Can Only Imagine”) optioned the rights to “Redeeming Love” that Rivers was seriously intrigued. Over the years, it was optioned for film several times, but Rivers invariably exercised her contractual right of refusal after reviewing the scripts. It’s sold more than three million copies since it was first published in 1991. But her most beloved remains her first: “Redeeming Love.” The story of a young orphan forced into prostitution during the California Gold Rush is based on the Biblical Book of Hosea. Rivers has turned out more than 30 popular novels in what Publisher’s Weekly characterized as a “formidable segment” of the religion and spirituality market niche. Lewis, Evelyn Waugh, Flannery O’Connor, Marilynne Robinson and J.R.R. Some rankings place the Santa Rosa writer in heady company, with the likes of C.S. Google “best Christian fiction writers” and you’ll inevitably turn up the name Francine Rivers.
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