Emily’s Hope by Ellen Gable

reviewed by Tannia E. Ortiz-Lopes

 In her book, Emily’s Hope, author Ellen Gable tells the story of Emily Greer and a hidden and disturbing family secret.  

The book starts with Emily, married with children, riding in an ambulance to the hospital’s emergency room due to pregnancy complications. In the middle of this turmoil, her husband, Jason, looks at her with profound and comforting eyes, sending a loud and clear message of love, which could only be heard and understood by them.  

This preamble is indicative to the reader that ”Emily’s Hope” is not an ordinary book. It is a story of  unconditional love, despair, strong will, faith, and spiritual growth, as Emily struggles with her feelings of loss, fulfillment, and a life mission to make amends for a family sin with everlasting consequences. 

The book then goes back to Emily’s high school years, when the story starts to unfold, as she decides to do a Family Tree research project for her English class. Her aunt Sally gave her some old family photo albums and her great-grandmother Katherine’s old ledgers to help her with the research. Little did Emily know that her great-grandma’s personal notes and the coding phrase ”BPO Midwife,” frequently written in the ledgers, would reveal a shocking truth. 

Emily’s search for answers leads her to discover how much she and her great-grandmother had in common, as well as their differences in important matters such as marriage, family, children, God, faith, and abortion. 

In the course of the story, Emily travels to Canada where she meets Jason, who turns out to be her soul mate and true love. During their courtship and engagement, Jason and Emily overcame their desire for pre-marital sex. Jason uses this situation to explain to Emily his vision of sex, love, and marriage in regard to children. He introduces Emily to the Natural Family Planning (NFP) method as a way to better plan their family without compromising their Catholic beliefs. During the remainder of the story, the author, an advocate and practioner of NFP herself, utilizes Emily’s voice to tastefully explain this method to other characters and, ultimately, to the reader.   

I like the way the author narrates the story of the two main characters’ past, present, and future, as well as how she describes Emily’s relationship with her great-grandmother, Katherine, without losing sight of their uniqueness and commonality. I believe many readers will be able to identify themselves with the situations, conflicts, and solutions presented in this book, as Emily puts together the pieces of the puzzle of her Family Tree without losing hope.