Information for Retailers and Libraries
Thank you for your interest in Chrism Press. We invite you to browse our site and learn more about our mission. We also encourage you to visit our submissions page. While aimed at authors, this information will give you a sense of the type of fiction we publish and our content standards.
Questions? Please do not hesitate to contact us here.
Thank you again! Delighted to have you with us.
ISBN and Distribution by Title:
Adrift
Title: Adrift
Series Title: Molly Chase
Author: Rhonda Ortiz
ISBNs:
979-8-88709-019-1 (print)
979-8-88709-020-7 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
Brother Wolf
Title: Brother Wolf
Author: Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
ISBNs:
978-1-941720-56-1 (print)
978-1-941720-57-8 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
The City Mother
Title: The City Mother
Author: Maya Sinha
ISBNs:
978-1-941720-81-3 (paperback)
978-1-941720-82-0 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
The Good Death of Kate Montclair
Title: The Good Death of Kate Montclair
Author: Daniel McInerny
ISBNs:
978-1-946531-46-9 (print)
978-1-946531-47-6 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
In Pieces
Title: In Pieces
Series Title: Molly Chase
Author: Rhonda Ortiz
ISBNs:
978-1-941720-43-1 (paperback)
978-1-941720-44-8 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
The Letters of Magdalen Montague
Title: The Letters of Magdalen Montague
Author: Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
ISBNs: 978-1-941720-50-9 (print); 978-1-941720-51-6 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
Markmaker
Title: Markmaker
Author: Mary Jessica Woods
ISBNs:
978-1-941720-95-0 (paperback)
978-1-941720-96-7 (eBook)
Distribution: Ingram
Royal & Ancient
Title: Royal & Ancient
Author: Amanda Lauer
Distribution: Ingram
ISBNs:
979-8-88709-031-3 (print)
979-8-88709-032-0 (digital)
Available October 2023.
Shadowed Loyalty
Title: Shadowed Loyalty
Author: Roseanna M. White
ISBNs:
978-1-941720-79-0 (paperback)
978-1-941720-80-6 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
Shooting at Heaven's Gate
Title: Shooting at Heaven’s Gate
Author: Kaye Park Hinckley
ISBNs:
978-1-941720-91-2 (print)
978-1-941720-92-9 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
Who Am I To Judge?
Title: Who Am I to Judge?
Series: A Martha and Marya Mystery
Author: Emily Hanlon
ISBNs:
978-1-946531-50-6 (print)
Distribution: Ingram
Full Listings by Title:
Title: Adrift
Series Title: Molly Chase
Author: Rhonda Ortiz
Genre: Historical fiction, romance
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: August 8, 2023
About the Book
“Everything about your life is my concern, Mr. Robb, including your betrothed.”
Boston, 1793—Now engaged, Molly Chase and new federal intelligencer Josiah Robb want nothing more than to settle into quiet married life—or as quiet as life can be when one is hunting down a ring of traitors among Boston’s elite. But the plan has one glaring flaw: Molly herself, and the madness that has plagued her since her father’s death. Until Molly proves herself an asset rather than a liability, Josiah’s investigation cannot move forward.
Intelligencer Eliza Hall thought she had left her troubles behind in Philadelphia long ago. When she is sent back to follow a suspect, she’s ready to acknowledge the truth and make her peace—except that the man she loves, who doesn’t know about her past, is assigned to come with her. Now she must outwit her fellow spy and closest friend, lest he hate her for what she had been, while they maneuver to prevent Revolutionary France from dragging the fledgling United States into a war it cannot afford.
Both women are in search of a safe harbor. Little do they expect the winds to blow them into the most tumultuous waters of all—back home.
Advanced Praise
“Weaving a captivating tapestry of history and storytelling, Rhonda Ortiz deftly builds the tension in her second Molly Chase novel, Adrift. Brimming with insight, action, and intrigue, the story fully immerses the reader in the uncertain early years of our nation and the lives of a compelling cast of characters. The satisfying ending hints of even more excitement on the horizon—a brilliant and edifying historical read!” — Stephanie Landsem, author of Code Name Edelweiss
“‘First comes love, then comes…’ a scintillating spy plot, perduring mental and emotional trauma, deep spiritual questioning, and, of course, romance. With Adrift, Ortiz provides a stirring sequel that weaves together historical detail and psychological complexity in a cloth as intricate as any from Penelope’s mythological loom.” — Eleanor Bourg Nicholson, author of Brother Wolf and The Letters of Magdalen Montague
“Full of espionage, political and social intrigue, with historically accurate details, Adrift is the exciting sequel in a series sure to have you looking at American history with fresh eyes and interest. Ortiz delves into the racial, social, religious, and mental health struggles of the time with a deft hand that leaves you aching for better for the characters but in awe of their struggle to rise above, all while serving their country. It is a must read for fans of historical novels.” — Crystal Caudill, author of Counterfeit Faith
“The second installment in Rhonda Ortiz’s Molly Chase series, Adrift, is a veritable ocean of intrigue, espionage, and swoonworthy romance. This impeccably researched adventure brings eighteenth century Boston to life in the little-known-to-me Federalist period of American history, and compelling character arcs kept me turning pages far into the night. Fans of Josiah and Molly will find much to love about the continuation of their story as well as a new equally riveting pair to root for. I’m already eagerly awaiting the third book in the series!” — Amanda Wen, author of Roots of Wood and Stone
About Rhonda Ortiz
Rhonda Franklin Ortiz is a Lay Dominican, award-winning novelist, nonfiction writer, and founding editor of Chrism Press. A native Oregonian, she attended St. John’s College in historic Annapolis, Maryland and now lives in Michigan with her husband and children. Find her online at rhondaortiz.com.
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Distribution: Ingram
ISBNs:
979-8-88709-019-1 (print)
979-8-88709-020-7 (digital)
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Title: Brother Wolf
Author: Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
Genre: Gothic horror, literary fiction
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: September 1, 2021
About the Book
For Athene Howard, the only child of renowned cultural anthropologist Charles Howard, life is an unexciting, disillusioned academic project. When she encounters a clairvoyant Dominican postulant, a stern nun, and a recusant English nobleman embarked on a quest for a feral Franciscan werewolf, the strange new world of enchantment and horror intoxicates and delights her—even as it brings to light her father’s complex past and his long-dormant relationship with the Church of Rome. Can Athene and her newfound compatriots battle against the ruthless forces of darkness that howl for the overthrow of civilization and the devouring of so many wounded souls? In this sister novel to A Bloody Habit, the incomparable Father Thomas Edmund Gilroy, O.P. returns to face occult demons, gypsy curses, possessed maidens, and tormented werewolves, accompanying a charming neo-pagan heroine in her earnest search for adventure and meaning.
AWARDS
Finalist, 2022 Catholic Media Association Book Awards, Fiction: Escapism
Editorial Review
Brother Wolf is a book you don’t just read—you live in it. It’s a splendid Gothic mystery and a convincing werewolf story with an endlessly intriguing cast of characters. —Tim Powers, bestselling author
Even though they love animals, modern Franciscans don’t admit werewolves to their Order. But if they did, they should be prepared in case Brother Wolf starts running amok. That is exactly what happens in this Catholic horror novel set at the beginning of the twentieth century. Add in an attempt to destroy the European economy, an apostate priest, an unlikely romance, and the shocking appearance of the demon known to the Romans as the goddess Diana. Thank goodness those friars were able to enlist the aid of the renowned vampire-hunting Dominican, Fr. Thomas Edmund Gilroy, O.P., first introduced to us in A Bloody Habit. Yes, be prepared for a wild ride when the fur starts to fly. — Augustine Thompson, O.P., author of Francis of Assisi: A New Biography
About Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
In addition to scholarly pursuits, Eleanor Bourg Nicholson occasionally strays into fiction, including her epistolary novella, The Letters of Magdalen Montague (Kauffmann Publishing, 2011; Chrism Press, 2021), and her Gothic novels, A Bloody Habit (Ignatius Press, 2018), and Brother Wolf (Chrism Press, 2021). A former assistant executive editor for Dappled Things, she is assistant editor for the Saint Austin Review (StAR), as well as the editor of several Ignatius Critical Editions of the classics. Her work has appeared in the National Catholic Register, Touchstone, First Things, The Catholic Thing, The Imaginative Conservative, and elsewhere.
By day, Eleanor is the resident Victorian literature instructor at Homeschool Connections and with her husband homeschools their five children. By night, she reads the Victorians, writes Gothic novels, and cares for feral offspring. Visit her at eleanorbourgnicholson.com.
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Distribution: Ingram
ISBNs:
978-1-941720-56-1 (print)
978-1-941720-57-8 (digital)
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Title: The City Mother
Author: Maya Sinha
Genre: Contemporary literary fiction with elements of family drama, psychological suspense, and humor
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: February 1, 2022
About the Book
Fresh out of college, small-town crime reporter Cara Nielsen sees disturbing things that suggest, for the first time in her life, that evil is real. But as the daughter of two secular academics, she pushes that notion aside. When her smart, ambitious boyfriend asks her to marry him and move to a faraway city, it’s a dream come true.
Four years later, confined to a city apartment with a toddler, Cara fears she is losing her mind. Sleeplessness, isolation, and postpartum hormones have altered her view of reality. Something is wrong in the lost, lonely world into which she’s brought a child. Visions hint at mysteries she can’t explain, and evil seems not only real—it’s creeping ever closer.
As her marriage falters and friends disappear, Cara seeks guidance from books, films, therapy, even the saints, when she’s not scrubbing the diaper pail. Meanwhile, someone is crying out for help that only she can give. Cara must confront big questions about reality and illusion, health and illness, good and evil—and just how far she is willing to go to protect those she loves.
Editorial Reviews
“With The City Mother, Maya Sinha adds an electric new entry to the distinguished ledger of Catholic fiction. Hip and stylish, yet pulsing with mystic energy, her tale of a precarious young family illuminates the unseen operations of grace and evil in a secular age. Sinha’s hypnotic storytelling marks a thrilling literary debut.” — Mary Eberstadt, author of Primal Screams and Adam and Eve After the Pill
“I’ve been waiting for this novel a long time—a subtle, compelling mystery that brings to life the surreal world of postpartum motherhood and reveals its link to the numinous. I’m already anticipating Sinha’s next book.” — Abigail Favale, author of Into the Deep
About Maya Sinha
Maya Sinha grew up in New Mexico and was a staff writer for the Santa Fe Reporter before moving to California for law school. As a lawyer with school-aged kids, she wrote a regular humor column for the local newspaper. In 2019, she became a columnist for The Saturday Evening Post. Her work has appeared in The Lamp Magazine, Dappled Things, and Book & Film Globe. She lives near Sacramento, California with her family. Visit her online at mayasinhawriter.com.
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ISBNs:
978-1-941720-81-3 (paperback)
978-1-941720-82-0 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
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Title: The Good Death of Kate Montclair
Author: Daniel McInerny
Genre: Contemporary literary fiction with elements of mystery and dark comedy
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: March 15, 2023
About the Book
Kate Montclair is dying. She has arrived at late middle age loveless, childless, and having failed to achieve the career dreams of her youth. Now diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor, she sees the next fourteen months of suffering as an intolerable prospect. Kate is desperate—not only for a miracle cure, but for some sense that her life, and life itself, amounts to something more than a catastrophe.
When she sees an advertisement for the Washington, DC Death Symposium, Kate investigates and learns that the monthly discussion group is led by none other than the idealistic and inimitable Adele Schraeder, an old friend she has not seen since their teaching days in Rome. On Adele’s advice, Kate soon decides to break Virginia law with an assisted suicide.
But Adele Schraeder is not the only person Kate reconnects with at the Death Symposium. Also present is Benedict Aquila, another friend from Rome, who has been living in DC while nursing his mother through her final illness. And then there is the strange, mentally ill street woman sitting in the corner, drawing pad in hand. Who is she? She is the Ariadne’s thread that will lead Kate on a journey back through the years to her youth, forcing her to come to grips with the love affair she had with a married man and the catastrophe that took his life.
Editorial Reviews
“Witty, exacting, independent Kate Montclair is a beloved English teacher . . . with a past. When a surprise diagnosis forces her to wrap up her affairs, she’s got it all under control—but has she misread the story of her own life? The Good Death of Kate Montclair is an enchanting, page-turning novel with real spiritual depth. An instant classic of 21st century Catholic fiction.”
Maya Sinha, author of The City Mother
“Daniel McInerny brings us a novel of characters flirting with the temptation to be their own author only to discover the plot of their lives is not up to them. This is a book of and for our dreary moment but one which reminds us that a good story brings serious pleasure and joyful wisdom to transform even the darkest of ages.”
—James Matthew Wilson, author of The Strangeness of the Good
About Daniel McInerny
Daniel McInerny is a native of South Bend, Indiana; a graduate of the University of Notre Dame (BA English) and The Catholic University of America (MA and PhD Philosophy); and an associate professor of philosophy at Christendom College, where he teaches courses on the Philosophy of Art and Beauty and Ethics and Imagination, among other topics. Daniel is a fiction author, dramatist, and screenwriter. His humorous Kingdom of Patria series for middle grade readers can be found on Amazon. Daniel and his wife Amy have three adult children and one preternaturally adorable grandchild, and they live in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley. He imagines a renaissance in popular entertainment fueled by wonder, philosophy, and the quest for the good life at his Substack, The Comic Muse. Learn more about Daniel’s work at danielmcinerny.studio and follow him on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
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ISBNs:
978-1-946531-46-9 (print)
978-1-946531-47-6 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
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Title: In Pieces
Series Title: Molly Chase
Author: Rhonda Ortiz
Genre: Historical romance with elements of family drama, society drama, and political suspense
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: October 1, 2021
About the Book
Certain things ruin a girl’s reputation, and madness is one.
Boston, 1793—Beautiful and artistic, the only daughter of a prominent merchant, Molly Chase cannot help but attract the notice of Federalist Boston—especially its men. But she carries a painful secret: her father committed suicide and she found his body. Now nightmares plague her day and night, addling her mind and rendering her senseless. Molly needs a home, a nurse, and time to grieve and to find new purpose in life. But when she moves in with her friends the Robbs, spiteful society gossips assume the worst. And when an imprudent decision leads to public scandal, Molly is tempted to take the easy way out: a marriage of convenience.
Merchant sailor Josiah Robb is as familiar to Molly as a brother—as dear and as exasperating. Yet she is no sister to him. He hopes to marry her before anyone else does, but sailing the high seas leaves no time for convincing Molly that he is more than her teasing childhood friend. Josiah wants a new job and a fresh start, and when he agrees to carry a confidential letter to President Washington, his life is forever changed.
In the wake of tragedy, these longtime friends discover a new intimacy. But slander, confusion, absence, and a wealthy, conniving bully stand between them. And with French spies on the loose, they not only have to rescue their reputations—they have to protect their lives.
Awards
Winner, 2020 ACFW Genesis Award, Historical Romance
Winner, 2019 ACFW-VA Crown Award, Historical/Historical Romance
Finalist, 2022 Oregon Christian Writers Cascade Award, Published Historical Fiction
Finalist, 2022 Catholic Media Association Book Awards, Fiction: Inspirational
Recipient, Catholic Writers Guild Seal of Approval
Editorial Reviews
“This delightful historical romance is so refreshingly alive. It is not deadened by the supercilious contempt for the past that characterizes so much contemporary historical fiction, nor is it killed with the cynicism of pride or with hallmarked schmaltzy sweetness, the two extremes which are the death of true romance. It is as fresh and alive as Miss Austen in its treatment of really believable people in a believably real world. It breathes the life of realism, philosophically understood, into the reality it depicts.” – Joseph Pearce, author of Catholic Literary Giants
“Rarely have I encountered a debut novel as well told as this one. In Pieces took me captive from the first scene and held me fast to the end. This seamless story is woven into a rich historical tapestry, threaded with intrigue, and shaped by characters who grow, change, and take their faith seriously. A winning blend of liveliness and deeper themes, this carefully crafted tale was a joy to read. I can’t wait to see the adventures Molly Chase and Josiah Robb have next.” – Jocelyn Green, Christy Award-winning author of A Refuge Assured and The Windy City Saga
“Readers of historical romance will find congenial company in this novel’s plucky, winsome lead duet who must thread their individual paths through spiritual crises, hostile social pressures, and the lingering effects of past trauma to find peace together. Ortiz particularly shines as an observer of courtship dynamics that, though shaped by the period’s expectations, will find echoes in many contemporary relationships.” – Katy Carl, author of As Earth Without Water and editor in chief of Dappled Things
“Unforgettable! With her sharp, sophisticated brand of writing, author Rhonda Ortiz has canvassed a remarkable breadth of history in this epic debut set during post-Revolutionary America. A time when New England’s shipping ports gave rise to international intrigue and the ever-present threat of an infant country being drawn back into war. Amid the cleverly colorful cast, Molly and Josiah are especially endearing as they explore what it means to become family while navigating their joys, sufferings, and the uncertainties in between. And at its core, love in its truest, purest form—that sacred bond between a man and a woman exemplified on the Cross by a love greater than ourselves—believing that only through sacrifice can we learn to give wholly and unconditionally to its cause. In Pieces is a novel that will remain on the heart long after the last page. Bravo!” – Kate Breslin, bestselling author of Far Side of the Sea
“While engaging the reader in a delightful tale of romance, sewing, seamanship, and early American political intrigue, In Pieces also teaches us the importance of seeing well—of seeing with the heart. The essential questions of life—the nature of true love, finding meaning in suffering, how to make a good marriage, the primacy of faith and conscience, and the gift of family—make this spiritually satisfying historical fiction as rich in depth as it is fun to read.” – Sarah Bartel, moral theologian, founder of Cana Feast, and coeditor of A Catechism for Family Life
About Rhonda Ortiz
Rhonda Franklin Ortiz is award-winning novelist and nonfiction writer whose articles on spirituality, family life, and arts and culture have been published by a variety of popular media outlets. She was a contributor to The Catholic Mom’s Prayer Companion: A Book of Daily Reflections, edited by bestselling authors Lisa Hendey and Sarah Reinhard. Additionally, she spent four years serving as Art Director for the literary magazine Dappled Things. Rhonda is also a founding editor of Chrism Press. Find her online at rhondaortiz.com.
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ISBNs:
978-1-941720-43-1 (paperback)
978-1-941720-44-8 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
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Title: The Letters of Magdalen Montague
Author: Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
Genre: Literary fiction
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: July 1, 2021
About the Book
When the amoral and cynical “J” takes up his pen to describe Magdalen Montague, he little realizes the dramatic changes that will soon be wrought in his life. His fascination for this mysterious woman catapults him into a harrowing encounter with Catholicism, conversion, and discipleship. Through the letters, intimate portraits of four souls appear: the loquacious letter-writer “J,” his virulently antireligious recipient, “R,” the weird, silent servant Domokos Juhász, and Magdalen Montague herself. Across the turbulence of the first four decades of the twentieth century, including two world wars, the mysterious correspondents in The Letters of Magdalen Montague present a profound portrait of humanity’s quest for God.
Editorial Reviews
“Eleanor Nicholson has written an old-fashioned epistolary novel of religious awakening and vocation. Set in the heady intellectual and hedonistic milieu of Edwardian England, it mixes elements of Waugh, Wilde, Bernardos, and even a touch of Francis Thompson to create an intimate account of one skeptic’s decisive encounter with the Hound of Heaven. In this short book, Nicholson recaptures the energy of a great Catholic literary tradition.”
— Dana Gioia, poet and former Chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts
“Magdalen Montague exhales the same exuberant and exotic air as Baudelaire, Huysmans and Wilde; a delicious vignette that illumines the path from debauchery to the Divine.”
— Joseph Pearce, author of The Unmasking of Oscar Wilde
About Eleanor Bourg Nicholson
In addition to scholarly pursuits, Eleanor Bourg Nicholson occasionally strays into fiction, including her epistolary novella, The Letters of Magdalen Montague (Kauffmann Publishing, 2011; Chrism Press, 2021), and her Gothic novels, A Bloody Habit (Ignatius Press, 2018), and Brother Wolf (Chrism Press, 2021). A former assistant executive editor for Dappled Things, she is assistant editor for the Saint Austin Review (StAR), as well as the editor of several Ignatius Critical Editions of the classics. Her work has appeared in the National Catholic Register, Touchstone, First Things, The Catholic Thing, The Imaginative Conservative, and elsewhere.
By day, Eleanor is the resident Victorian literature instructor at Homeschool Connections and with her husband homeschools their five children. By night, she reads the Victorians, writes Gothic novels, and cares for feral offspring. Visit her at eleanorbourgnicholson.com.
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ISBNs:
978-1-941720-50-9 (print)
978-1-941720-51-6 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
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Title: Markmaker
Author: Mary Jessica Woods
Genre: Science Fiction / Fantasy
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: October 3, 2022
About the Book
He swore to paint the truth. Now he is living a lie.
For the Noxxiin people, tattoos define identity: they commemorate birth, ancestry, accomplishments—even crimes. As a tattoo artist living on an ancient generation ship, Mariikel Serix has sworn to record the truth. So when he becomes an unwilling accomplice in the banishment of an innocent man, he is horrified that he has broken his oath—and his eyes are opened to the misery of the Underbelly, the realm of the outcasts.
Despite the risk to himself, the young markmaker begins secretly helping the ship’s exiles. But more trouble is brewing. The Serix guild, which regulates the ceremonial tattoos, engages in a power struggle with the Ascendance, a domineering political faction—and the conflict threatens to destroy the fragile peace among the Noxxiin clans. Amidst this discord, an enigmatic artist named Haza’ruux singles out Mariikel to be his apprentice, for hidden reasons of his own. As Mariikel ventures deeper into a maze of political strife and ancient clan secrets, he realizes that his pursuit of justice may not only cost his reputation—it may cost him his life.
Mary Jessica Woods has built out an imaginative sci-fi world in which questions of identity, birth, and death cannot be ignored, as we so often do in ours. I read it start to finish, from the underbelly of the ship to the glowing marks of power, and was sad when it ended. Here, for those with eyes to see, the truth is traced out as surely as an invisible mark upon the heart. —Father Michael Rennier, Dappled Things Magazine
A mesmerizing debut! Markmaker explodes the highest potential of sci-fi, uniting a vivid and intricate alien world, full of poignantly real characters, with deep, lingering themes. Kaz’valiim, Mariikel. I hope we meet again. —Eleanor Bourg Nicholson, author of A Bloody Habit and Brother Wolf
Markmaker is an extraordinary first novel, beautifully plotted and elegantly written. From the first pages, it engages the reader in the struggle of its young narrator with the contradictions of a world that has lost—and not only literally—the gravity of its great past. Woods begins with a simple premise: suppose tattoos were not personal expressions, but symbols with the whole force of the law behind them, and suppose that instead of being a “tattoo artist,” the markmaker occupied an almost priestly role while the marks themselves bore an almost sacramental power. Without a trace of pretension, the story is a parable of what it means to wear our deeds publicly as our justification before others, and also what it means when malice and power distort these visible signs and subject the innocent to injustice. Woods takes the reader into scenes that are deeply moving in the confrontation between mercy — literally, a transgression against the strictness of the codes — and the misery of an exile and humiliation as palpably abject as leprosy. The characters of the closed world of the ancient ship spring to life in all their dimensions, and in the gathering complexities of the plot, the challenges to the constructed hierarchy expose the limitations we both inhabit and enforce upon other. This book is a vivid accomplishment: it makes its reader feel the presence of greatness, first as a mere rumor, and then as a reality earned and enacted. —Glenn Arbery, president of Wyoming Catholic College, and author of Bearings and Distances and Boundaries of Eden
About Mary Jessica Woods
Mary Jessica Woods was raised and homeschooled in the Chicago suburbs, where she read as many adventure stories as she could get her hands on. At the age of ten, she realized she was doomed to be a writer and has been following the muse ever since. Still seeking adventure, she headed out west to Wyoming Catholic College, where she climbed mountains, rappelled off cliffs, and studied the Great Books.
After graduating summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in the Liberal Arts, she returned to the Midwest to work as an editor. Mary also volunteers as an editorial assistant for the literary magazine Dappled Things, and her nonfiction has appeared in America Magazine, Catholic World Report, and First Things. In her mind, she spends most of her time on distant planets or alien spaceships, but she actually lives in rural Michigan. Follow her work at maryjessicawoods.com.
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ISBNs:
978-1-941720-95-0 (paperback)
978-1-941720-96-7 (eBook)
Distribution: Ingram
Title: Royal & Ancient
Author: Amanda Lauer
Genre: Historical romance
Audience: Young Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: October 1, 2023
About the Book
Bronwyn Campbell’s end-of-summer plans were simple: wrap up her job at Saint Andrews Country Club, meet her friends one last time at the virtual reality arcade, and move across the country—again—with her father. But when lightning strikes while she’s working the club’s Saint Andrews Heritage Day, she’s transported from an American fairway to the home of golf, The Links at St. Andrews, in Scotland—and in the year 1691, no less.
When Iain MacDonald discovers Bronwyn knocked out cold on the seventeenth green, little does he know their meeting would change not only the course of their lives but the course of history. The son of the chieftain of Clan MacDonald, Iain bears the weight of responsibility for his family and his clan’s survival on his shoulders. Family drama and the growing discord over religion in Scotland add to the heavy load he carries daily while stepping further into his role as future chieftain.
As political events between England and Scotland heighten the conflict surrounding the MacDonald lands, Bronwyn and Iain rely upon their shared faith and growing feelings toward each other for survival. Amid the questions that plague both of them, though, one stands out: How can you be with the one you love if your choice ultimately influences history?
About Amanda Lauer
An avid reader and history buff since childhood, award-winning author, journalist and screenwriter Amanda Lauer is the author of the Heaven Intended Civil War series. A World Such as Heaven Intended won the 2016 CALA Award and A Freedom Such as Heaven Intended earned the 2022 Catholic Media Book Awards: First Place Catholic Novels: Inspirational. Lauer’s first time-travel novel Anything But Groovy was released in 2021. She also contributed to the Catholic Teen Books anthologies Treasures: Visible & Invisible and Ashes: Visible & Invisible and worked with Archduke Eduard Habsburg to bring his children’s tale Dubbie: The Double-Headed Eagle to life. In addition, Lauer won the Red Letter Awards 2020 Best Writer or Screenplay for her work on the Christian film The Islands. Find her online at amandalauer.com.
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Available October 2023
ISBNs:
979-8-88709-031-3 (print)
979-8-88709-032-0 (digital)
Distribution:
Ingram
Title: Shadowed Loyalty
Author: Roseanna M. White
Genre: Historical romance
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: May 1, 2022
About the Book
Sabina Mancari never questioned her life as the daughter of Chicago’s leading mob boss until bullets tear apart her world and the man she thought she loved turns out to be an undercover Prohibition agent. Ambushes, bribes, murder, prostitution—all her life, her father sheltered her from his crimes, but now she can no longer turn away from the truth. Maybe Lorenzo, the fiancé who barely paid her any attention in the last two years, has the right idea by planning to escape their world. But can she truly turn her back on her family?
All his life, Lorenzo’s family assumed he would become a priest, but he has different ideas—marrying Sabina and pursuing a career in the law. Despite his morals, he knows at the core he isn’t so unlike his mafiosi father and brothers. Has he, in trying to protect Sabina, forced her into the arms of the Prohibition agent bent on tearing her family apart? How can they rebuild what has so long been neglected and do it in the shadow of the dark empire of the Mafia?
Shadowed Loyalty, set amid the glitz and scandal of the Roaring Twenties, examines what love really means and how we draw lines between family and our own convictions, especially when following one could mean losing the other.
“In this remarkable body of work set amid the 1920s Chicago Prohibition, Shadowed Loyalty explores the depths of the soul in beautifully written prose, offering the correlation between love and suffering, belief and doubt, goodness and evil. As Sabina and Enzo undertake a tenuous journey toward reconciliation—which only leads them deeper into the world of temptation and darkness—their prayers eventually begin to illuminate the fullness and truth of real love, that Love on the Cross, having no conditions or exclusions, only forgiveness, and the light of hope. With her superb writing, author Roseanna M. White paints such wonderfully flawed yet endearing characters, into a story so poignant and riveting as to remain with this reader long after the last page. Truly a marvelous work!”
“With beautiful, and at times heart-wrenching prose, Shadowed Loyalty is a story that will stir the heart long after the last page.”
—Kate Breslin, best-selling author of As Dawn Breaks
“With her trademark commitment to history and signature wordsmithing prowess, Roseanna M. White brings to life the turbulent world of Prohibition Era Chicago. Robust, fully-dimensional characters dash stereotypes and will have readers flipping pages far into the night to follow their paths through shadows of loyalty, faith, fear, and courage. Fans of historical romance will love untangling this web with Sabina, Enzo, and the Prohibition Agent bent on keeping them apart.”
—Jocelyn Green, Christy Award-winning author of Drawn by the Current
About Roseanna M. White
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award–winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. When not writing fiction, she’s homeschooling her two kids, editing, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary. You can learn more about her and her stories at RoseannaMWhite.com.
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ISBNs:
978-1-941720-79-0 (paperback)
978-1-941720-80-6 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
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Title: Shooting at Heaven’s Gate
Author: Kaye Park Hinckley
Genre: Contemporary literary fiction; Southern Gothic
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: August 15, 2022
About the Book
When Malcolm J. Hawkins, the Head of Psychology at Bethel University in Alabama, feels his position and his credibility threatened by up-and-coming English professor Ginnie Gillan, he decides to use her husband Edmund’s gullibility against her. Feeding Edmund a steady diet of drugs and manipulation, Mal lights the fuse of the greatest tragedy Bethel has ever known.
Eighteen-year-old Alma Broussard, her quirky mother Moline, and her feisty Aunt Pauline run a chicken farm in Bethel. Their lives seem wholly separate from the feuds of academia—but dark secrets lurk in Moline’s past that will bring the people she loves straight into the path of a murderous madman.
In the wake of death and destruction, the town that used to be called Heaven’s Gate will find no easy answers, but there may still be hope for redemption. Shooting at Heaven’s Gate is a Theology of the Cross novel in which genuine goodness, bona fide evil, and suffering truly live side by side.
Awards
Winner, Independent Press Award for Religion Fiction, 2023
Editorial Reviews
“Kaye Hinckley has more than earned her keep as a significant contender vying for a living Catholic literature.” —Joshua Hren, author of How to Read (and Write) Like a Catholic and co-founder of the MFA program at University of St. Thomas, Houston
“With a brisk narrative pace, Shooting at Heaven’s Gate by Kaye Park Hinckley invites readers to explore the complicated lives of characters suffering with loss, illness, addiction, and deception. The plot twists make this novel both entertaining and thought-provoking with the reassurance that good does win.” —Johnnie Bernhard, award-winning author of Sisters of the Undertow and Hannah and Ariela
“Faith and faithlessness do battle in Kaye Park Hinckley’s thought-provoking, unsparing new novel. She reveals the hellish torments…and heavenly convictions…of everyday people in a small Alabama town in an age of mass shootings. Bring faith as you enter Heaven’s Gate.” —Charles McNair, author of The Epicureans
“Family relations and lifelong secrets, human brokenness and the grace of transformation, mass shootings, deception, sin and forgiveness. These fundamental themes of the human search for meaning, of the challenge of faith, reconciliation and conversion, are woven throughout this story of a small town in rural Alabama. The complexities of each character, from university professors to farm hands, become the stage for an exploration of the human condition, in the style of C.S. Lewis, with echoes of T.S. Eliot, Geoffrey Chaucer, Macbeth and many others. The novel is followed by a list of themes, questions for book discussions and selected quotes, making it all the easier for study groups of any kind. —Fr. Christopher Viscardi, SJ, Chair and Professor of Theology, Spring Hill College
About Kaye Park Hinckley
Kaye Park Hinckley is a native of Dothan, Alabama. Writing awards include: the 2018 Independent Press Award Winner in Religion Fiction, the 2019 Independent Press Award Winner in Religion Fiction, the 2019 and 2021 NYC Big Book Award Winner in Religion Fiction, the 2020 Big Book Award, Distinguished Favorite in Religion Fiction; Poets & Writers Magazine Maureen Egen Award, First Runner-Up; Finalist in New Orleans’ William Faulkner/Words of Wisdom Competition, and others. Shooting at Heaven’s Gate is her tenth novel.
A Fine Arts graduate of Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama, she studied creative writing at the University of Alabama. After twenty years managing her own advertising agency, she began to write fiction full-time. She is married to George Hinckley and is the mother of five children and grandmother of thirteen. Visit her online at kayeparkhinckley.com.
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ISBNs:
978-1-941720-91-2 (print)
978-1-941720-92-9 (digital)
Distribution: Ingram
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Title: Who Am I to Judge?
Series: A Martha and Marya Mystery
Author: Emily Hanlon
Genre: Mystery
Audience: Adult
Publisher: Chrism Press, a division of WhiteFire Publishing
Publication Date: May 1, 2023
About the Book
When a priest confesses to the murder of a parishioner, everyone in the wealthy waterfront town of Pequot Bays is convinced of his guilt—everyone, that is, except Marya Cook, a Bible-quoting, lavender-clad octogenarian known to locals as the Purple Pest.
Unable to prove his innocence on her own, she draws in Martha Collins, a much younger, efficient, ever-busy church lady, to assist in her investigations. Although Martha is unwilling to associate herself with the odd old woman as she accuses wealthy and influential suspects of murder, Marya’s peculiar logic persuades her that this ditzy old woman may not be so ditzy after all.
A victim with plenty of enemies, a corrupt ambitious cop, a conflicting confession by a fellow priest, and the death of a prime suspect make the path to truth a crooked one. The rich and powerful suspects scoff at poor, dithering Marya. Can she, in the end, unveil their many secrets and prove there is more to a person than meets the eye?
Editorial Reviews
‟Readers will be delighted with Hanlon’s deftly constructed mystery and vividly imagined world of colorful characters in this refreshing and hopeful tale of redemption.” —Susan Furlong, New York Times Top Ten Crime Fiction Novel of the Year
‟When evil strikes not just at the heart Martha’s beloved community, but her home, she knows it is her duty to prevent a miscarriage of justice. But in order to ensure truth prevails, Martha will need to examine everything she thought she understood—and make a very unlikely alliance with the vividly memorable Marya. Who Am I to Judge is an absolute gem—a delightful mystery suffused with faith, friendship and a sparkling cast of characters that will charm readers even as it keeps them guessing until the very end!” —Wendy LaCapra, author of Scandal in Spades
About Kaye Park Hinckley
Emily Hanlon was raised in Texas, educated in Boston, and now lives in New York. She worked as a personal injury litigator for many years, first as a plaintiff’s attorney presenting the stories of injured clients, then changing sides and telling the stories of clients accused of causing those injuries. Finally ending up as an arbitrator, she publishes over fifty decisions a year that seek to unravel the truth behind those always contradictory versions. A life of listening to witnesses and sifting through facts has prepared her well for creating the complex entanglements of murder mysteries.
Having converted late in life after watching the joy that faith brought to her husband and three sons, she, like her sleuths in the Martha and Marya mysteries, now goes to daily Mass, is a eucharistic minister, and is active in the St. Vincent de Paul Society. Through her books, Emily shares her love of the church and of a good “whodunit.”
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ISBNs:
978-1-946531-51-3 (digital)
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