Lost And Found by Ginny Yttrup

Gerard and Jenna Bouvier live with his mother Brigitte. Gerard is the heir to the family wine business and he hopes that someday soon his mother will hand over the reins to him. Gerard has turned a blind eye to his mother’s abuse of his wife Jenna. Being in a marriage arranged pretty much by Brigitte Gerard and Jenna have spent their married life trying to please her.

Feeling led by the Holy Spirit Jenna begins to seek what God would have her do in her situation. Seeking an outlet Jenna has begun a spiritual journey that she blogs about hoping to find her purpose and help others find theirs. In her quest to submit only to the Lord Jenna seeks the council of Matthew a spiritual guide. Never has Matthew been so touched by a client than he has been by Jenna. They have an instant spiritual connection.

Brigitte has one goal in mind and that is to keep Gerard and Jenna under her control. Being the ultimate business woman Brigitte is determined that she will never allow her son to run the family business. She takes steps to ensure that Jenna too will remain in her power. 

Jenna feels the Holy Spirit telling her that a time of trial is coming. Her prayer throughout is that she will remain faithful no matter what comes her way. Throughout her circumstances Jenna knows in her heart that God will never leave her or forsake her, but when she no longer is able to feel the Holy Spirits presence she fears that once again she has become a failure. 

My Thoughts:

As I’ve been processing Lost and Found since I finished I’ve been trying to think how to express how I felt at the end. As with every book I have read by Ginny Yttrup I found the subject matter thought-provoking and a story that stays with me for long after I finish reading. Ginny has a way of making the characters in her books touch a person’s heart. Her characters are very believable and consistent in their behavior. I feel like I become a part of their lives as I read. Each character is fully developed and able to produce all kinds of emotions in the reader. I totally disliked Brigitte’s character and found myself wanting something bad to happen to her! Jenna garnered sympathy and sometimes exasperation. Several other characters also gave me some strong emotions to deal with. I have to be honest and say that I didn’t care for Matthew’s character as a spiritual guide or some-such that he called himself. I thought he and Jenna risked falling into a relationship together outside of their marriages even though that didn’t happen I felt that in “real life” it would have. I also had problems with some of the charismatic and maybe “new age” material that to me was a bit over the top. I think the final message in the book is that we must be willing to lose everything and empty ourselves out to the Lord. He is the only one that matters.