A “vivid, unsentimental, powerful” portrait of a Southern marriage by the New York Times–bestselling author of Ellen Foster (Publishers Weekly). “She hasn’t been dead four months and I’ve already eaten to the bottom of the deep freeze. I even ate the green peas. Used to I wouldn’t turn my hand over for green peas . . .” Ruby Stokes has died too young and left her husband, Blinking Jack, behind. With alternating entries from each of them, A Virtuous Woman recounts the tale of their years together in an “exquisitely realised piece of writing” (Elizabeth Buchan, The Mail on Sunday). From their very different backgrounds—Ruby a daughter of wealth, Jack a penniless tenant farmer—to their relationships with their landlord and his family, and the strength they drew from each other in the face of hardship, this story of a marriage is “full of fantastically gritty metaphors . . . A book that will change your dreams” (The Observer). “Gibbons again flawlessly reproduces the humor and idiom of rural eastern North Carolina.” —Library Journal

A young widower looks back on his memories of his wife and their life together

My prayer is that every woman who reads this book will be empowered and encouraged from God Almighty! That you will allow God to heal and deliver you from every snare the enemy had tried to set for your life. I decree and declare right now that you will fulfill the purpose God has for your life. I call you forth to walk boldly declaring the Glory of God! To walk in freedom and in victory knowing that you are a Virtuous Woman of God, In Jesus Name, AMEN!

Five years ago nobody wanted to teach the women's Sunday School class, so the group settled on Proverbs 31 as an easy read-but soon realized they actually knew very little about it. The Power of a Virtuous Woman is the book written as a guide. It examines Proverbs 31 from beginning to end with hard questions all along the way. Questions like how did David's relationship with Bathsheba affect her relationship with their son Solomon? And exactly how did Bathsheba get Solomon to listen to her when he was already a grown man? It explores ancient, yet ongoing conversations about gender, power, submission, obedience and sacrifice. The questions at the end of each chapter beg more for analysis than answers and sometimes elicit anger. Are these conversations okay in the 21st century or are the inquiries just too dangerous for women? The class grew from nine to more than twenty women in a few short months. Amid the privacy of the church library, the comfort of coffee, tea and homemade goodies and the growing confidence of true sisterhood they explored every verse of the chapter they thought they already knew. The Power of a Virtuous Woman covers various perspectives on life, marriage and parenting presented in Proverbs 31 because the class roster is varied. Some of the sisters are in their 20s, some are in their 70s and some are in between. They are single, married, divorced and widowed, with and without children, and some are raising grandkids. Some of the sisters have beautiful homes, some live in shelters and some have been incarcerated. There are professionals with advanced degrees and others working on their GEDs, but like many women around the world they all struggle with issues of virtue, power and submission. Perspectives on that struggle form the basis of The Power of a Virtuous Woman.

A new way of looking at behavioral expectations for women in early modern England

Nancy Wilson has been a pastor's wife for forty years, and in this book she walks through fourteen biblical virtues to help women of all ages actively pursue fruitfulness in the knowledge of Christ. This book highlights what the Bible has to say about a Christian woman's highest duty, what it looks like to be a leading woman in one's community, and what it means to pursue virtue when everyone else thinks it's no longer important. This encouraging little book includes application questions and assignments which should both challenge individuals and give groups much food for thought.

For years Christian women have struggled to understand what the Proverbs 31 woman is all about. Is this the ideal woman, or an outdated fixture of the past. Courtney explains that this passage is not in the Bible by accident, and that a virtuous woman is a rare find in today's world.