Portraits Books in Order

Portraits is a multi-author Christian fiction line, and Judith Pella's contribution to it is Blind Faith. Unlike many of Pella's best-known books, this one is not a sweeping historical saga. It is a contemporary story with mystery, romance, grief, and a quieter kind of suspense.

That change of scale is part of the appeal.

Blind Faith follows Irene Delany, a single mother and artist who has already had more than enough pain. She is trying to build a steadier life when news of her ex-husband Greg's suspicious death pulls her back into questions she thought were behind her. The past will not stay politely boxed up.

Joel Costain, a successful attorney, is searching for answers about Greg's death. Joel's investigation brings him into Irene's life, and the story builds tension from two directions at once. There is the mystery of what happened to Greg, and there is the slower, more fragile question of whether Irene can trust someone again.

The title points to more than one kind of sight. Joel lives with blindness, but the book is also interested in emotional blindness: the assumptions people make, the walls they build, and the fear that keeps them from seeing grace when it is right in front of them.

Because Portraits was a shared series, readers do not need to read a long sequence before starting Pella's book. Blind Faith stands on its own. Its connection to the larger line is tonal rather than plot-based, with the focus on faith, healing, and a character portrait shaped by crisis.

Fans of Pella's historical fiction may notice a more modern pace, but familiar concerns remain. The book still asks how a wounded person learns to hope, how love grows after disappointment, and how faith can be more than a word when facts are frightening.

Start and stop with Blind Faith if you are reading Judith Pella specifically. It is a good side trip for readers who want her themes without committing to a multi-book historical family saga.