A new novella offering a witty and poignant rumination on time, family, religion and the search for love in may forms—longing, regret, grief, and surprise.
CHAPTER 1
For the first time in twenty-some years,
Dante Moretti needs to go to Confession.
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What is a
Cafeteria Catholic?
2008 The Morettis are a Sarasota family of Cafeteria Catholics, (rejecting some Vatican doctrines—mainly pelvic issue ones). Widower Dante goes to his first Confession in twenty-some years. He confesses gossiping: telling daughters Cecilia and Joan of his brother Nick’s long-ago fling with the caterer for Nick and Rosemary’s wedding vow renewal. An unusual Penance surprises Dante.
Rosemary’s tantrums impact events. Dante wants another good woman to love, but dating yields only stories that amuse his opinionated daughters.
2016 Dante’s gossip has been repeated by others over the years, changing with each teller. Florida is a hotbed of politics, with everyone talking about freedom (yet yearning to mate). An undreamt of source for finding love and fulfilling Dante’s Penance offers challenge and hope.
Her name is Abigail.
By 2020 they’re doing all this in a pandemic. How could anything go right?
About the author
Carol DeChant has published in Chicago’s Sun Times and Tribune and the Miami Herald; her screenplay Pure Beholding won First Place in a Texas screenplay competition.
Her nonfiction books include Momma’s Enchanted Supper and Great American Catholic Eulogies. The latter won First Place in the Independent Book Publishers Associations’ Audio Book of the Year contest.
Are Your Free? is her first novel. She and her two daughters live in Sarasota, FL; they take shelter as needed during hurricane season with her two sons in Atlanta.
Photo by Charles Fara