The true crime genre is very popular at the moment, in books and TV series, and too often that means gruesome descriptions of violence, and making entertainment and puzzles out of others’ pain.

But there is one true crime book around at the moment  - Seventy Times Seven by Alex Mar - that tries to tell a difficult and ultimately positive story in a thoughtful and helpful way.  It is about Christian forgiveness and redemption: read on to find out what the title means.

The story starts in the 1980s in Indiana in the USA. A group of bored teenage girls attacked Ruth - a bible teacher, grandmother, widow - in her own home. They killed her, stole a few things, and were quickly caught. A heart-breakingly pointless, sickening crime. One of the girls, Paula, was 15 when she stabbed Ruth, and had had an awful childhood. She was tried as an adult and sentenced to death, and spent the next 15 years on Death Row. Eventually her sentence was commuted: she served nearly 30 years in jail.

Paula was a difficult person who didn’t always seem to understand what she had done, or how she could think or behave to get over it. This isn’t a story of innocence, or wrongful conviction – though most people would think it wrong to execute someone for what they did when they were 15. It's not a happy story, though Paula was released eventually and attempted to rebuild her life.

At the heart of the book is Bill, Ruth’s grandson – a traditional right wing American, a working man. Ruth’s family had been understandably horrified by what happened, and joined the prosecution in calling for the death penalty. But later Bill had a remarkable moment in which he thought that God and his grandmother were calling for him to forgive Paula. This was life-changing for him:  he spent the rest of his days campaigning for those on Death Row, and he did establish a partial friendship with Paula, and with her sister. This doesn’t have the perfection of a film script: Bill didn’t persuade the rest of his family to forgive, and his marriage ended because of his commitment to the cause. He and Paula did not always have a happy relationship.

But his efforts gave him a certain peace, a purpose in life, and something to believe in. He comes over as a difficult but good-hearted man, a man of principle.

It is a wrenching book, with no easy answers, but it contains goodness and glimpses of hope, and it is told in a fair-minded and unsensationalist way. Forgiveness can be hard, it won’t always work, and it won’t make everything right – but sometimes it’s all we have, and if we don’t even try then the darkness will prevail. Forgiveness can bring a little light to both sides.

Jesus is clear on the subject. That title comes from Matthew’s Gospel  (18: 21-22):

Then Peter came to him and asked, “Lord, how often should I forgive someone who sins against me? Seven times?”

“No, not seven times,” Jesus replied, “but seventy times seven!’

 

Moira Redmond