Hope on the Inside

By: Marie Bostwick

Narrated by: Hillary Huber

Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's summary

"Whatever comes your way, find the happiness in it." 

Hope Carpenter received that advice from her mother decades ago. Now, with their four children grown, Hope and her husband, Rick, are suddenly facing an uncertain future after a forced retirement strains both their savings and their marriage. Seeking inspiration and a financial boost, Hope gets a job teaching crafts to inmates at a local women's prison.   

At first, Hope feels foolish and irrelevant, struggling to relate to women whose choices seem so different from her own. But with time and the encouragement of the prison chaplain, she begins to discover common ground with the inmates, in their worries about their children and families, their fear of having failed those who need them. Just like her, they want to make something of themselves but believe it might be impossible.   

Embarking on an ambitious quilting project, Hope and her students begin to bond. Together, piece by piece, they learn to defy expectations - their own and others' - and to see that it's never too late to stitch together a life that, even in its imperfections, is both surprising and beautiful.

©2019 Marie Bostwick (P)2019 HighBridge Company

Great book

I really enjoyed this book. Had a lot of true life to it. Thanks for the listen

Great family story.

The author made me care about Hope and her family. The story line was believable and made sense.

Upbuilding

I love her stories. They are realistic but upbuilding. I feel good when I’m done reading Marie Bostwicks stories.

Great book

once again. you have out done yourself. hope you never give up writing. I have read or listen to all of your books. 5 hope this one will become a series as the other have. once again, thanks for a great story. as I am a quilter, these have become my favorites.

Better than expected

Definitely recommend. The characters resonated with real life and it draws reader in with anticipation of what’s next.

Hope in the inside

This was fabulous so inspiring such a remarkable message I couldn’t stop listening thank you for such a lovely book.

Her Best Work!

Marie Bostwick is one of my favorite authors. I think this is her best book so far! A very riveting book that is hard to put down.

So UPLIFTING! Ms. Bostwick’s BEST Work Yet!

Just when I think I won’t find another book by this writer that I like as much as the others I’ve read, she OUTDOES herself and writes this one!

I enjoyed every moment of this book, although I must say, that for a good part of the story, the daughter, Mackenzie, was so whiny, so spoiled, so rude to her parents and just so “entitled,” I wanted to reach through the pages and slap some sense into her! As she settled down and started realizing that life ISN’T all about her and she started to see her parents as individuals, flaws and all, (and as her own pregnancy progressed), her self-centered thinking began to slowly, almost imperceptibly change. Suddenly, things were no longer just black and white; Mackenzie began to see that sometimes there is room for a little grey area as well.

As a teacher in a low income, Title I school, I LOVED and appreciated the relationships Hope developed with her students in the woman’s prison and could relate SO MUCH to how the influence of just one person can change the life of another.

Also, as a mother, I appreciated Hope’s occasional self-doubt about whether she was the right person for the job and if she was doing the right thing for her students and for her family by working full time. Hope FIGHTS for her students, something every teacher understands. In some ways, our students become just a little bit like our own children, even if they are adults. Teachers invest so much of themselves so they can build the self-confidence and self-worth of their students. We often find the ones who are the most unlovable are the ones who need us the most. When a teacher shows a student that everyone has value and something to offer the world, it is often a revelation — some students have never heard this from anyone before. As Hope builds her relationships with her students, they began discovering their worth and their talents. Her students are women in prison, a segment of society that others have already judged and found to be “throw-aways.” Even though they are paying their debt to society by doing their time in prison, they are deemed as “unreformable.” Hope is able to see a whole different side to these women.

Hope is the wife and mother we all aspire to be (and super crafty to boot). I want to BE Hope!

As always, I was so sad for the story to end and I am left wondering what I will read next…. Thank you Ms. Bostwick for another WONDERFUL story. I truly loved this one — please keep them coming!

Good Story

Well developed characters believed in their situations and a good narrative like the authors portraying of real lives

Excellent story

Very well done. Thoroughly enjoyed this book. Marie Bostwick does not disappoint! Real life story.