Following is an e-mail that Robin received regarding the sex scenes in Nicole of Prie Mer:

Dear Mrs. Hardy,

After my best friend recommended the Annals of Lystra to me, I found them and enjoyed them thoroughly. Your writing style, your usage of words, your descriptions were incredible. I felt like I was there, I felt as if I knew the characters personally. They were the type of characters that come alive. I have found the character of Roman to be one who, like those in George MacDonald's books, become so real to me that I wonder what he would do in a certain circumstance.

It was with great disappointment, then, that I began the book Nicole of Prie Mer. I was uncomfortable with the details of the "seductions" in Padre, but wrote it off as the characters being non-Christians. However, in Nicole, I was shocked to read details of scene after scene in a married couple's bedroom. I very much enjoyed reading about more characters from Lystra, however, it was all tainted by the descriptions of sexual encounters.

Maybe I should explain where I'm coming from, so you can put yourself in my place for a minute. I'm a 20-year-old girl who once made a commitment to save my first kiss for my husband. That involves more than simply saving my lips--it requires keeping my thoughts, heart, and mind pure, which is an incredibly difficult task in today's world. I enjoy reading well-written, "deep" Christian fiction, because the characters encourage and inspire me. I especially enjoy the rare fictional romance that inspires me to love my future husband more. Such I found your first Lystra series to be. But though I finished the book Nicole simply to see what happened to Ares and Nicole, I now wish I hadn't. Because those scenes and descriptions are in my mind to stay.

I look forward to learning about sex and the way a married couple interacts in the bedroom...on my wedding night, and every night after, with my husband. But I believe that what happens behind closed doors should stay behind closed doors. It is doing no one any good to read descriptions of other people's sex lives. I don't know what that does to married women, but I know that for me, a single girl, it puts my thoughts in the last place they need to be right now.

The male characters in your book remind me very much of the man I love. He, like them, is a man of incredible character and strength. But because he and I are committed to purity, and to waiting until the Lord's timing for us to be married, other people's sexual relations are the last thing I need to be reading about. I need to be reading the inspiring stories of love, patience, and commitment no matter what—like I found in your first Lystra series. You have an incredible way with words. You don't need to use enticing sexual descriptions to keep your readers turning the pages. You have the ability to get the point across delicately, without giving us details. I watched the old movie "Adam's Rib" the other night (with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn). The last scene of the movie was Spencer Tracy pulling closed the curtains of their canopy bed. And that was all we needed to know. So please, I write to you with respect as an elder, with concern for the integrity of a fellow writer, and with pleading because I am a young woman striving to live in purity. While I will continue to loan and recommend your Annals of Lystra to my friends and website visitors, I will not be recommending that they pick of the Latter Annals of Lystra.

May the Lord bless you for your work for Him.



Robin replies:

"Thank you for the courteous and respectful expression of your concerns regarding the bedroom scenes in Nicole of Prie Mer. I truly understand your position, which is why I wrote what I did. Here is what I mean:

"You note how Satan has hijacked sex in our culture to the point that someone such as yourself who is trying to live a godly life is uncomfortable (understandably so) with any expression of sexuality. I did note with some amusement that you talk as if the book is sexually explicit, when in fact I took great care to avoid that—I only hinted at the activities in progress; your imagination supplied the rest. But it was important to me to show that (1) Nicole was a virgin before marriage, which proves to be a great blessing (2) Ares is a gentle, considerate lover, but is entitled to, and expects to receive, the conjugal benefits of marriage (3) their marital sex is more fulfilling and joyful than illicit sex could have been (4) their physical intimacy is an important part of their relationship, and, (5) Ares and Nicole's faithfulness to each other in their marriage gives them self-sacrificial strength and divine protection. I could not simply close the curtain on their bedroom because of the important developments that took place there. "You already appear to have a good grasp of these concepts, but many other young women do not. They think that Christian marriages must be joyless and dull, and the only way to experience intense physical love is to do it Satan's way—outside of marriage, in promiscuous, demeaning relationships. Have you noticed how many church-going young people feel that it's okay to live together? I am trying to wrest God-honoring sexuality out of Satan's grasp. He has such a tight grip on it, even you say that glimpses of Ares and Nicole's marital relationship 'taint' the book.

"If you and your fiance have gone in for premarital counseling (which many pastors require before they will marry a couple) you probably have heard recommendations for one of the numerous Christian sex manuals on the market. (My daughter and her husband-to-be were given a videotaped series based on such a book to watch together.) Any of these are far more explicit than anything I've ever written or will write. The descriptions of some of their recommended practices are, um, hair-raising, and of questionable value in my mind. I used to wonder why these are acceptable in Christian circles when my discreet marital love scenes are not.

"Now I believe that is because it is understood that these manuals are for adults, whereas there is the unstated directive that all Christian fiction must be suitable for children (probably as a reaction against all the filth that is floating around in book form). But I am not writing to children; I am writing to equip adults emotionally for resisting Satan's attacks by believing in God's love for them.

"Finally, I also note your praise of Chataine's Guardian, which I appreciate. But when the second edition of that book was released ten years ago, it created a general firestorm because of (1) my use of words like "bastard" and "damn" (see the letter on profanity above) and (2) the fact that Roman married Deirdre before she had made a technical profession of faith. These were serious issues which I believe led to my publisher's dropping me. But you, being a thoughtful, mature Christian, don't seem to have any problem with them. "I'm sorry that you can't recommend Nicole (you haven't read any of the other five Latter Annals to know anything about them) but that's okay; leave it alone. If it is honoring to God, it will endure; if it's not, it won't, and I'll be the one to answer for it."


In reference to the above answer, another reader asks, "Why did you have Roman marry Deirdre before she accepted Christ?"

Robin replies:

"Please note that I said 'before she had made a technical profession of faith.' The short answer is: Deirdre's conversion was a process that began the day she met Roman. At what moment that process reached the point of conversion, Penuel does not tell us, but I believe it happened long before she verbalized it.

"I also have a deep suspicion of a verbal profession of faith as an indication of true salvation--too many people try to use it as a magic ritual, or something. See 'What Is Salvation? (Or, If I Accept Jesus Christ as my Savior, Can I Do Whatever I Want and Still Go to Heaven?)'"


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