History Literature / RedeemingLove

* {{Foil}}: The BetaCouple, Paul and Miriam, are this to Angel and Michael, with the genders reversed: here, the woman is innocent and pure, while the man is more experienced and morally compromised. In order to acknowledge their love and start a relationship, they both have to learn from the best traits of the main couple: Paul has to emulate Michael's purity and honesty, while Miriam has to imitate Angel's courage.

* StockholmSyndrome: Angel tells Michael that at one time, she believed that she was in love with Duke, the man who raped her and ran the brothel in which she was imprisoned until she was eighteen.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: ...until the RapeAsBackstory happens.

* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: The novel makes it clear that prostitutes’ experience of sex is not fulfilling either physically or emotionally, no matter their personality or motives. Even after they begin to establish a stable relationship, it takes a long time for Angel and Michael to make love with results that they both consider “good”.

A film adaptation co-produced by Creator/PureFlixEntertainment and Series/TouchedByAnAngel alumna Roma Downey's Lightworkers studio is in production [[https://deadline.com/2020/04/logan-marshall-green-famke-janssen-nina-dobrev-eric-dane-more-redeeming-love-dj-caruso-pure-flix-1202920966/?fbclid=IwAR1T2_VNxh_dZErFFiSo9kpC-CH6rf8da4kM-NWibqDzqHywBnLJwAh6bfA and after being delayed from 2021 was released on January 21, 2022]].

A film adaptation co-produced by Creator/PureFlixEntertainment and Series/TouchedByAnAngel alumna Roma Downey's Lightworkers studio is in production [[https://deadline.com/2020/04/logan-marshall-green-famke-janssen-nina-dobrev-eric-dane-more-redeeming-love-dj-caruso-pure-flix-1202920966/?fbclid=IwAR1T2_VNxh_dZErFFiSo9kpC-CH6rf8da4kM-NWibqDzqHywBnLJwAh6bfA with a planned release date in 2021]].

%% ZCE. * NotSoDifferent: One of the primary conflicts in the novel, between Paul and Angel.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The book was written in 1991, but the story is set in 1850 and portrays period-appropriate attitudes towards various characters' sexual activity and beliefs. Angel, a rape victim, is perceived as a "[[DefiledForever soiled dove]]" by most characters, including [[InternalizedCategorism Angel herself]]. On the other hand, Miriam is sixteen, and no one bats an eye at her marrying [[spoiler:Paul who's [[AgeGapRomance well into his twenties]].]]

* TheMasochismTango: Michael and Angel, ''and how''.

* NotSoDifferent: One of the primary conflicts in the novel, between Paul and Angel.

* AgeGapRomance: When they met, Michael is 26, and Angel is 18.

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: The book was written in 1991, but the story is set in 1850 and portrays period-appropriate attitudes towards various characters' sexual activity and beliefs. Angel, a rape victim, is perceived as DefiledForever by most characters, including [[InternalizedCategorism Angel herself]]. On the other hand, Miriam is sixteen, and no one bats an eye at her marrying [[spoiler:Paul who's [[AgeGapRomance well into his twenties]].]]

* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Played with regarding various characters’ sexual activity and beliefs. Most notable, though, is the age difference between [[spoiler:Paul and Miriam; she’s only sixteen, and he well into his twenties, when they get married, but nobody bats an eye at it]].
** Partly justified in that the story is set in 1850.

* SwitchingPOW: The novel is written in third person limited, switching between Angel, Michael and sometimes Paul between paragraphs.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Averted with Angel. Due to being abused and sold into prostitution, she spends a significant portion of the novel as a very cold, selfish, and manipulative woman. Most of the prostitutes in the book are portrayed as very unfortunate people, though this trope is played straight with Lucky, Angel's OnlyFriend.

* LoveRedeems: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Obviously]]. Played pretty much straight: Michael's love starts the healing process that Angel goes on throughout the book, but it takes several years of effort and grief and it's Angel who makes the final decision about what her life will be.

* HeelFaceRevolvingDoor: Angel just can’t seem to make up her mind whether trusting Michael or breaking his heart makes her more unhappy.

* LoveRedeems: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Obviously]]. Played pretty much straight: Michael's love starts the healing process that Angel goes on throughout the book, but it takes several years of effort and grief and it's Angel who makes the final decision about what her life will be. See also the listing under TheFourLoves above.

* FourthDateMarriage: Michael has only seen Angel three or four times by the time they get married (and most of those “dates” went very badly; Angel was singularly unimpressed with Michael’s DoggedNiceGuy approach. The only reason they succeed in getting married so quickly was because [[spoiler:Angel is beaten almost to death by a disgruntled customer; she doesn't have the energy to resist, and the madam assents because Angel is no use to the brothel half-dead]]).
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Subverted. The novel makes it clear that prostitutes’ experience of sex is not fulfilling either physically or emotionally, no matter their personality or motives. Even after they begin to establish a stable relationship, it takes a long time for Angel and Michael to make love with results that they both consider “good”.

* BewareTheNiceOnes: Michael is typically a very polite, easygoing fellow—until he finds you undressed and on top of Angel.
--> “Does anyone else want to get between me and my ''wife''?"

* BreakTheCutie: Angel’s backstory. Michael to some degree, [[spoiler:when Angel leaves him (especially the last time)]].
* TheBrideWithAPast: When Michael brings Angel home immediately following their marriage, his brother Paul recognizes Angel as a prostitute and, assuming Angel manipulated his clueless brother into the match without telling him about her trade, sets off in a rage to tell Michael. The subsequent fight they have reveals the brothers' large differences in philosophy which take almost the entire novel to resolve.
* BrokenBird: Angel is cold and very cynical as a result of her past abuse.
* CelibateHero: Michael is still a virgin at the age of twenty-six (to Angel's amazement), and remains so even for some time into their marriage.

* DefrostingTheIceQueen: Michael’s efforts on this front regarding Angel are downright heroic.

* DoesNotLikeMen: Angel hates them—mostly {{justified}} since the only men she knew well [[ParentalAbandonment abandoned]] her, [[RapeAsBackstory raped]] her, and [[SexSlave sold her into prostitution]], and almost every man she’s met since has only objectified her. In one of her encounters with Michael, she also comments that she’s always found men’s bodies “ugly”—again {{justified}} by the fact that pretty much every male body she’s ever seen up close has been in the process of effectually raping her.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Michael’s attempts to get Angel to marry him, as well as his later attempts to get her to stay with him.
* DontYouDarePityMe: Despite that she is actually deeply unhappy as a prostitute, Angel viciously blows off Michael’s attempts to show sympathy and kindness, taking it as a sign that he thinks she is weak.
* FeminineWomenCanCook: Averted with Angel; she’s very good at looking and behaving like a [[ProperLady lady]], but she has next to no domestic skills because she’s never needed them before. This is a source of angst and frustration once she reaches a point where she wants to do something nice for Michael like make him dinner. Played straight when she gets enough practice that she actually becomes quite skilled in the kitchen, and even acquires a job as a cook later on in the novel.
* FemmeFatale: Angel is not at all shy about using her beauty to get what she wants. Since this is the ''only'' way she knows how to get what she wants, however, it reveals how much of a BrokenBird she is. It’s a sign of immaturity and desperation rather than self-confidence or sophistication.

* HeadTurningBeauty: People tend to stare when Angel walks past—she has to have a bodyguard to keep from being accosted—and there’s a reason the going rate for her services are four times any other woman’s.

* HouseHusband: Michael, because he’s been a bachelor living alone well into his twenties, and Angel learned next to no domestic skills during her life as a prostitute.
* IronicName: The miserable [[ViceCity little town]] where Michael meets Angel and GoldFever ruins people by the handful is called Pair-O-Dice, as in "Paradise."
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy:
** [[spoiler: Angel leaves Michael for the third time because she believes that when she is gone, he will eventually marry Miriam and be able to have the children he desperately wants.]]
** For his part, [[spoiler:Michael lets Angel go and doesn't come after her this time: he decides he can't do anything more to make her happy and it would better to let her go.]]
* {{Jerkass}}: Paul to some degree, mostly when it comes to Angel.
* LieBackAndThinkOfEngland: How Angel feels about sex. This causes conflict in her relationship with Michael, who believes that the emotional connection during sex is important.
* LoveAtFirstSight: Played with: The first time Michael sees Angel, he knows she’s the woman he’s going to marry, but it’s its a ways into their relationship before love ([[TheFourLoves in the romantic sense]]) enters the picture. Has shades of LoveBeforeFirstSight, since he only glimpses Angel very briefly, she has not seen him, and he has no idea who she is.
* LoveMartyr: Michael in his early relationship with Angel.

* MeaningfulName: The main characters, provided you are familiar with Biblical names. Their significance is lampshaded within the text.
** Michael Hosea: Hosea is the name of a Biblical prophet who is commanded by God to marry a prostitute, and then take her back even after she is unfaithful to him. This is {{lampshaded}} in the book. (Hosea also means "God Saves", which is [[AnAesop sort of the point of the whole story, really.]])
** [[spoiler: Angel’s real name is Sarah]], which is the name of a woman from the Bible who for a long time had no home and [[spoiler: was barren.]] Later, [[spoiler: she is miraculously able to have children.]]
** Also the name that Michael gives Angel after she refuses to tell him her real name, ''Tirzah'', is another Biblical name meaning “she is my delight” and was intended by Michael to be a meaningful and deliberate expression of love to his wife, in contrast to the superficial name she used as a prostitute, ''Angel'', which was only meant to describe her physical beauty.

* NotSoStoic: The first time Angel is able to enjoy sex with Michael, she finds herself weeping.
* OutDamnedSpot: When she first begins to see that Michael is a genuinely good man, Angel feel she is unworthy of him; she plunges into a river and frantically begins trying to make herself feel clean. [[TearJerker Michael eventually finds her rubbing her skin raw with gravel and sobbing]].
* ParentalAbandonment: Angel's mother dies when she is eight, and prior to this her father did not acknowledge her as his daughter, because she was illegitimate.

* PoorCommunicationKills: Near the novel’s end: [[spoiler:Angel’s inability to communicate to Michael that she really does love him and isn’t staying out of a sense of obligation, and Michael’s failure to tell Angel that he wouldn’t trade her for any other woman—children or no children—results in ''both'' of them pulling an IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy and splitting up.]] This is further compounded when Miriam neglects to tell Angel that [[spoiler:she is in love with Paul, not Michael]], and when Paul—having gone to retrieve Angel—doesn’t tell her straight out that [[spoiler: ''he'' is the one now HappilyMarried to Miriam]]. All of this communication breakdown nearly undoes the bulk of what the characters spent the whole book working towards.
* PunnyName: The miserable [[ViceCity little town]] where Michael meets Angel and GoldFever ruins people by the handful is called Pair-O-Dice, as in ”Paradise”.
* RapeAsBackstory: Angel is sold into prostitution at the age of eight.
* ReadyForLovemaking: Angel tries this on Michael in an attempt to seduce him shortly after they’re married; he refuses her because he knows she’s only trying to manipulate him. [[spoiler: She tries it again sometime later, and he gives in; it can be inferred from later passages that this leads to them having sex at least somewhat regularly]].
** [[spoiler:Miriam]] pulls this in a less overt way when she wants [[spoiler:Paul]] to propose, in a scene rather like the story of [[Literature/BookOfRuth Ruth and Boaz]] in Literature/TheBible.
* TheRunaway: Angel flees Michael more than once. For slightly different reasons each time, and to different places each time (see below).

* SexSlave: Angel was a prisoner in Duke’s brothel from the age of eight until she finally escaped ten years later. Her subsequent situation left her completely dependent on her madam, however, meaning this is still effectually in play until Michael marries her.

* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Because of her [[ParentalAbandonment back]][[RapeAsBackstory story]], there’s little doubt Angel would have ended up a prostitute anyway, but it’s probable her life would have been one she could have been rescued from much sooner had she not been so stunningly gorgeous.
* StalkerWithACrush: When Michael is first trying to convince Angel to marry him, Angel thinks he is one of these, even though he’s going through “legitimate” means (paying her hourly rate at the brothel) to talk to her.
* StepfordSmiler: During the early part of the novel, Angel constantly acts like her cushy life as the most beautiful prostitute in town is all she could ever want, when in fact she’s deeply lonely and hates every minute of her work.

* TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason: A version of these tropes is invoked when Angel becomes deeply ashamed of her former life as a prostitute and refuses to tell either her employers or her and Michael’s new neighbors about it [[spoiler:(though it turns out that most of those people either guessed or found out about it anyway, and accepted her in spite of it)]].

* WideEyedIdealist: Paul thinks this is Michael (it comes up particularly when they’re arguing over his marriage to Angel), but although Michael is a virgin he is not ignorant, and he privately struggles a lot with God’s command to do what seems impossible—redeem a [[BrokenBird cynical and bitter]] prostitute with ThePowerOfLove.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: We don’t know about the whole world, but it’s made clear that Angel is the most beautiful woman anywhere in the GoldFever country where the story takes place.
* WouldntHitAGirl: Subverted; Michael is usually the model of chivalry, but when bringing Angel back from [[spoiler:the brothel to which she ran away after their wedding]], he warns her not to speak on the way home because he’s so angry he might not be able to hold himself back from hurting her.
* YouAreWhatYouHate: Played with: Paul despises Angel [[spoiler: because she sleeps with people outside of wedlock and because he thinks she uses sex to manipulate people, but he has deliberately manipulated her to get sex out of her, knowing Michael is married to her]]. To his credit, he feels enormously guilty about it.
* YourCheatingHeart: Oooh boy. Firstly, Angel’s problems in her backstory begin because her mother cheated on her father. In the main body of the novel, Angel runs away from Michael and employs herself at a brothel similar to the one where he married her. {{Justified}} (or rather given a FreudianExcuse) because the only way she can feel in control is by giving herself up for sex—which Michael [[ChastityCouple won’t allow her to do with him]] because of her [[BrokenBird emotional]] [[LieBackAndThinkOfEngland disconnect]].

* CelibateHero: Michael is still a virgin at the age of twenty-six (to Angel's amazement), and remains so even for some time into their marriage (see the listing for ChastityCouple below).

* BigDamnHeroes: Michael, bursting in to save Angel from a beating that would kill her right before marrying her. Again after the first time she runs away—he literally tears a patron off the top of her and brawls his way out of the brothel.

* [[TheBrideWithAPast Bride With A Past]]: When Michael brings Angel home immediately following their marriage, his brother Paul recognizes Angel as a prostitute and, assuming Angel manipulated his clueless brother into the match without telling him about her trade, sets off in a rage to tell Michael. The subsequent fight they have reveals the brothers' large differences in philosophy which take almost the entire novel to resolve.

* ChastityCouple: Michael and Angel don’t have sex for several months after their marriage because of Angel’s emotional dysfunction about it.

* GildedCage: Angel’s life as a prostitute looks very cushy—she wears extravagant clothes, has a finely furnished room, and very possibly earns more money than almost anyone else in the city, GoldFever notwithstanding—but it’s revealed that she doesn’t actually own any of her own possessions, has no access to her earnings, and has no control over what she does, who she talks to, or where she goes.

* HookerWithAHeartOfGold: Averted with Angel. Although she is a protagonist, the psychological effects of her life, specifically being abused and sold into prostitution, are treated as significant. Angel is not happy about her life, and she spends a significant portion of the novel as a very cold, selfish, and manipulative woman. Most of the prostitutes in the book are portrayed as very unfortunate people, though this trope is played straight with some of them, such as the motherly figure of Lucky.

* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: [[spoiler: Angel leaves Michael for the final time because she believes that when she is gone, he will eventually marry Miriam and be able to have the children he desperately wants.]]
** In the same instance, this is why [[spoiler:Michael chose not to come after Angel—he decided he couldn’t do anything more to make her happy and it would better to let her go.]]

* LawOfInverseFertility: [[spoiler:Angel cannot have children due to a surgical procedure at her first brothel, despite that children are what Michael wants almost more than anything.]]

* OldShame / TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason: A version of these tropes is invoked when Angel becomes deeply ashamed of her former life as a prostitute and refuses to tell either her employers or her and Michael’s new neighbors about it [[spoiler:(though it turns out that most of those people either guessed or found out about it anyway, and accepted her in spite of it)]].
* TheOneWhoMadeItOut: Angel is the only prostitute from her original brothel who is able to start a new, ordinary life ([[spoiler:which is partially because most of them die in a fire a few months after she marries Michael]]). Averted with the ministry she sets up to help other prostitutes escape the sex trade.
* OutDamnedSpot / [[ShowerOfAngst Bath of Angst]]: When she first begins to see that Michael is a genuinely good man, Angel feel she is unworthy of him; she plunges into a river and frantically begins trying to make herself feel clean. [[TearJerker Michael eventually finds her rubbing her skin raw with gravel and sobbing]].

* PunnyName / IronicName: The [[CrapsackWorld miserable]] [[ViceCity little town]] where Michael meets Angel and GoldFever ruins people by the handful is called Pair-O-Dice [[note]]”Paradise”[[/note]].

* ChildrenAreInnocent: …until the RapeAsBackstory happens.

* HelloNurse: People tend to stare when Angel walks past—she has to have a bodyguard to keep from being accosted—and there’s a reason the going rate for her services are four times any other woman’s.

* WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue

* AcceptableTargets: Blink and you'll miss it, but the prologue portrays Angel's family of origin using standard anti-Catholic tropes: cold, unforgiving, rigid, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking mechanically praying the Rosary.]] This is understandable given the target audience, though.

The book presents Christian teaching on the love of God through the relationship of Michael and Angel.

** Michael Hosea: Hosea is the name of a Biblical prophet who marries a prostitute. This is {{lampshaded}} in the book.