The Penny

by: Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford; Read by Ellen Archer

Published by: Hatchette Audio

Reviewed by Laura Hilton

Jenny Blake’s life is just the same-oh-same-oh. She figures it will never change. She lives in squalor on the wrong side of town, with an abusive father and a down-beaten mom. Her sister dreams of being a movie star—but even that seems to be a dying dream when she is really only going to secretarial school.

Jenny has no friends, because she’s afraid that if she brings them home her father will rape them. After all, he’s sexually molested her at night. But everything changes the day Jenny finds a penny embedded in the hot asphalt of St. Louis. When she bends over to pick it up, she starts a chain of events that ends up stopping a robbery. Jenny is offered a job, and free movie passes. She also is introduced to Jesus.

Miss Shaw owns a jewelry store and Jenny’s penny saved her from a robbery. She offers Jenny a job at the jewelry store and starts changing Jenny’s life—even while she faces the shadows of her own unspoken pain. Jenny and Miss Shaw form an unlikely friendship. Can they heal from their brokenness and grief?

The Penny is one of the best read audio books I’ve ever listened to. Ellen Archer is a fabulous reader, using voice infections to bring the story to life. At first I wished for sound effects to go with it, but Ms. Archer commands the reader’s attention and holds it all through the CDs.

TV evangelist Joyce Meyer and Bedford have written a stirring story with The Penny. It is unforgettable, and crosses gender gaps easily. My husband and 16-year-old son were engrossed in the story as well as my girls, and every time we drove somewhere we turned the CD on so we could listen.

The Penny is a fabulous story and will stay with the listener (or reader, if you buy the book) forever. I grew to love and care for Jenny and prayed she’d find a way out of the nightmare she lived in.

Armchair Interviews says: Make sure you get The Penny. It is truly a treasure and teaches us that God even uses the small stuff.

Author Web site: http://www.JoyceMeyer.com