Janette Oke

By Amy Cash

Information on Janette Oke, including biographical information and WWW links

[Biography] [Bibliography] [References]

Biography

Janette Oke (pronounced "oak") was born in Champion, Alberta, to a Canadian prairie farmer and his wife during the depression years. She graduated from Mountain View Bible College in Didsbury, Alberta where she met her husband Edward. The two were married in May of 1957 and together went to Pastor churches in Calgary and Edmonton, Canada, and in Indiana. Edward later became president of Mountain View Bible College. They have three sons (including twins) and a daughter. Devoted to her family, she has said, "there is no higher honor or greater task given to any woman than being a homemaker. That is my number one priority." (1)

Janette Oke published her first book in 1979, Love Comes Softly. When Bethany House Publishers published this book, fiction was an unknown genre in the Christian publishing marketplace. The book was so successful that she has since published thirty-six romance novels. With their focus on the lives of early prairie settlers, her books have sold over 14 million copies. In 1992 she received the President's Award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

To write her books, Oke retreats to her family's condo in the Canadian mountains. She produces her first draft in a week. Her books portray her definition of romance, "deeply committed love." Some of the trials of life can develop the closeness important in marriage.

Oke has a large reading audience of teenagers, housewives, working women, a few men and now young children. She writes her books to reach an audience of young women betwen the ages of sixteen and twenty-four since there are not many books available in the Christian market for that age group. Her readers so loved Love Comes Softly that she continued to story in a now complete series of eight books. Other series include Canadian West, Seasons of the Heart, and Women of the West. In 1997, Bethany House Publishers released her new book, The Tender Years which is the first title in a new Prairie Legacy series. She has also written Return to the Heart (1997) which sold over 200,000 copies.

As one of Janette Oke's fans, I can fully recommend her books as being entertaining and full of enrichment. Of all her books I have read, my favorite series was the Canadian West. Four books complete the series, including When Calls the Heart, When Comes the Spring, When Breaks the Dawn and When Hope Springs New. The four books in the series are about a young school teacher Elizabeth who is used to the "finer" things in life and is determined never to marry. In When Comes the Spring, she moves West to teach and meets Wynn, a Canadian Mountie. They fall in love and marry. Elizabeth must give up all her "worldly treasures" and bring only bare necessities to the Canadian frontier. She is warned that it will be rough and hard living--with none of the comforts she has been used to which she is accustomed. Subsequent books in the series deal with Elizabeth's adjustments to a life much different than she is used to. The one theme and common link that runs through the series is that love and devotion to God and your spouse can see you through any hardship. Time and again Elizabeth Delaney faces trials and tribulations and each time, with the help of God, she finds strength and courage. The Canadian West stories, are full of adventures while teaching valuable life lessons based on faith. The one lesson I learned from reading these books is that people can "plan" their lives, but we never really know what's going to occur. Through trusting and believing in God, we can truly be happy. I'm sure every reader gets a different message and learns a different lesson from her books. That, in itself, is the sign of good writing.

Contact Janette Oke through her publishers. Bethany House Publishers, 11300 Hampshire Avenue, S., Minneapolis, MN 55438. Phone: (612) 829-2512
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Bibliography
Apple City Book Store Hardcovers, paperbacks & cassettes

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References
1. "Janette Oke" in BHP Author Newsletter, Bethany House Publishers, Minneapolis, MN

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