New in Catholic Fiction: In Pieces

Barb Szyszkiewicz reviews a new historical novel from debut author Rhonda Ortiz.

In this richly detailed post-Revolutionary War love story, Rhonda Ortiz transports the reader to 18th-century Boston. Molly Chase, the beautiful and talented only child of a prominent Boston fabric merchant, suffers nightmares and other mental-health challenges after discovering her father's body following his suicide. Her family's former servant, Mrs. Robb, takes her in, but the church ladies find much to gossip about when Mrs. Robb's young son, Josiah, who's as close to Molly as a brother, returns to the city from a long sailing journey. And they won't let up, even though Josiah isn't even staying in the house.

In Pieces front cover

With no parents, no husband, and no means of support, Molly decides to turn her hobby into a (literal) cottage industry and uses fabric from her father's warehouse to start her own business as a dressmaker. Mrs. Robb's small home, owned by her son, suddenly houses Molly, Mrs. Robb, Josiah's sister Deborah, and enough cloth to dress half the fashionable young women in Boston. And those young women make fascinating characters in their own right, as does Mrs. Robb.

Readers will cheer for the strong female characters and the smitten, determined hero who battle rigid social expectations and a villain you'll love to hate. An "oh, no, he didn't!" King David-style conflict, a Custom-House mystery, some PTSD, and even a little espionage make In Pieces a novel you won't be able to put down. There's even a cameo by Alexander Hamilton!

In Pieces Hamilton meme

I called this book Catholic fiction, but you'll discover in the reading that Molly is actually a member of Old North Church, an Episcopal assembly, and Josiah and his family belong to Old South Church, a Congregational church. But Josiah has friends who are Catholic, and his studies of theology are leading him closer to the Catholic church than his mother, the daughter of a minister, might like. We'll have to wait until another book in the series to find out how this plays out, but this is not one of those annoying novels that ends on a cliffhanger; it's a satisfying story all on its own.

I've read In Pieces twice already, and chances are good I'll read it again.

In Pieces is published by Chrism Press, an imprint of WhiteFire Publishing dedicated to stories informed by Catholic and Orthodox Christianity.

In Pieces Molly meme

About the author: Rhonda Ortiz is an award-winning novelist, nonfiction writer, and editor. A native Oregonian, she attended St. John’s College in historic Annapolis, Maryland and now lives in Michigan with her husband and five children. Find her online at RhondaOrtiz.com.