Janette Oke, who has written more than 80 novels since 1979, turns 90 this month. Her first novel, Love Comes Softly (Bethany House), was chosen by pioneering editors Gary and Carol Johnson, who foresaw the need for novels for Christian readers in the modern era. And her next book, The Pharisee’s Wife with Tyndale Fiction, releases on March 11.

Those are impressive numbers for a woman raised in Alberta, Canada, who started writing when her four children got into their teenage years. “I retired three times, the last time when I was in my 70s,” Oke told PW. “But I was being asked for more books because they were making movies of them, so I wrote with my daughter, Laurel Oke Logan,” with whom she has cowritten seven books, the latest of which was released in 2022.

Many of Oke’s novels were adapted into movies for television. The movie version of Love Comes Softly first aired in 2003, directed by Michael Landon Jr. and starring Katherine Heigl, Dale Midkiff, and Corbin Bernsen. And Oke’s series When Calls the Heart, whose first netry was published in 1983, is now an ongoing TV series that has aired 126 episodes on the Hallmark Channel to date.

Oke had no plans to write another novel until, she said, she “felt a strong nudge from God” while doing a Bible study on the book of Revelation, which promises Christ will come again. “It hit me that there were a lot of similarities between Christ’s first coming and his second coming,” she explained. “After a lot of prayer, I plunged in. The Pharisee’s Wife is the result.”

The novel focuses on Mary, renamed Simona by her new husband, Enos, who caught a glimpse her in a Jerusalem market and offered a hefty bridal price for her hand. Mary's impoverished parents, from a small village, agreed to the bargain, reasoning that Enos, a Pharisee and powerful religious leader, would make a fine match for their beautiful daughter. Simona, however, discovers that training to be a Pharisee’s wife is a political minefield, and that her new husband is more interested in using her as an ornament than seeing her as a real person.

Ultimately, the prophet Jesus, who threatened the power of the Enos and the other Pharisees, brought about drastic changes in both character's lives. This book, like so many by Oke, raises a question many people still ask today: Is Jesus who he claims to be?

Oke has found that writing fiction has helped her answer that question, and so many others like it, over the years.

“It’s amazing what fiction can do. All I have to do is read my mail to understand that,” she said. “People share their experiences with me, but live their experiences through the books. If I can gently lead them to some kind of solution, to offer help and inspiration, I can add to their lives.”

Oke calls her books “Paper Missionaries,” explaining: “They are wonderful opportunities to share my faith and the healing Jesus offers. But it’s also a responsibility.” She added: “It takes a lot of prayer for direction. Each time I write a new book, I focus on another little area that God directs me to.”

Usually a careful planner whose spiritual life involved deep consideration, Oke also knows that she must leave space to allow things to happen. “There was a big surprise in The Pharisee’s Wife,” she said. “Sometimes the characters you love the most get hurt the most. God sometimes leads you in surprising ways as you write.”

For this author—who was at the vanguard of Christian fiction and has seen her books adapted into movies, sold more than 30 million books, and received awards galore, including the ECPA President’s Award, the Gold Medallion Award for Fiction, and the Christy Award for fiction—writing still comes down to listening to God’s voice. “To refuse,” Oke said, “would be disobedience.”