Yes, as it turns out, because if you are like me and didn’t know – Redeeming Love the movie is based on Redeeming Love the bestselling novel by Francine Rivers. The same Christian novel that has been translated into 50 languages and sold more than three million copies.

Set to hit US cinemas in March next year – COVID-19 permitting – Redeeming Love brings to silver screens the super-popular tale of Angel and Michael in California’s 1850s Gold Rush era.

Rivers’ Redeeming Love is based on the Old Testament book of Hosea and God instructing that prophet to “go and marry a woman of promiscuity” (Hosea 1:2), as part of God demonstrating his own steadfast love for the not-so-faithful Israelites.

As the film-makers put it: “Redeeming Love centres on Angel (Abigail Cowen of I Still Believe) who was sold into prostitution as a child. She has survived through hatred and self-loathing, until she meets Michael Hosea (Tom Lewis of Gentlemen Jack) and discovers there is no brokenness that love can’t heal. The story reflects the redemptive power of unconditional and sacrificial love with characters and circumstances relevant to the contemporary world.”

From powerhouse Christian producer Roma Downey (The Bible mini-series) and director DJ Caruso (Eagle Eye), Redeeming Love the movie already appears to be impacting onlookers.

In the first-look trailer from the set outside Cape Town in South Africa, an unidentified crew member shares: “I’m not a Christian … and this book makes me want to believe.”