Review: Grace Like Scarlett by Adriel Booker

In the days following my miscarriage, several friends sent me links to people they’d found online who were writing about miscarriage. Adriel Booker was one of those people. Her words were like a lifeline to me. Not surprisingly, her book, Grace Like Scarlett: Grieving with Hope After Miscarriage and Loss, felt the same.

In Grace Like Scarlett, Adriel weaves together her own story (of having three miscarriages) with those of other women who have suffered miscarriages. (Prior to writing Grace Like Scarlett, Adriel surveyed hundreds of other women who also endured miscarriages). Adriel then walks her readers through the grief journey. In her words, “Grief does not follow a blueprint. It minds no flowchart. It doesn’t tick off boxes, it will not be contained in your favorite list app, and it most certainly won’t stay put on the calendar. Grief is wild like the sea, but it doesn’t need to destroy us.”

Grace Like Scarlett is vulnerable but it’s also hopeful. Throughout it, her focus remains on Jesus. According to Adriel, “Even when I felt like I was groping in the dark, I somehow knew there was a God acquainted with pain who stayed with me in mine.” She goes on to explain, “Grief invites us to a liminal space – a place to hold on to the comfort and presence of God while suspended between who you are and who you’re becoming. Liminal spaces feel disorienting because they are.”

Throughout Grace Like Scarlett, Adriel’s vulnerability invites her readers to be vulnerable (and honest) about their own pain. According to her, “Naming our suffering does not mean becoming defined by it. Rather, it means honestly acknowledging our need in the presence of Jesus. Our humility frees us to receive his grace. It’s his beauty for our ashes – the great exchange, God’s answer to our pain.”

Grace Like Scarlett also invites readers to process their own pain and discover the hope of Christ through a series of journal prompts that Adriel includes throughout the book. What’re more, it invites spouses to do the same. The end of the book includes a helpful letter from Adriel’s husband addressed to grieving dads that acknowledges their pain and gives them tools for walking through it.

Without a doubt, Grace Like Scarlett is a book that will be a lifeline to any woman who’s endured a miscarriage. But more than that, it's a vulnerable exploration of grief that anyone who’s grieving will find helpful.

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Disclosure: I received a free copy of Grace Like Scarlett from Baker Books in exchange for a fair and honest review.