Portage la Prairie author Terrie Todd is celebrating the release of her latest novel.

After a successful release of "Rose Among Thornes" earlier this year, Todd is releasing her new book, "The Last Piece".

"The Last Piece is a split time novel. It actually covers five different stories, so it's a bit of a puzzle," says Todd. "A puzzle actually plays a character in the book, in a way, and all these five stories converge at the end."

The book features a character named Ray Matthews. When Ray's father dies during the Great Depression, he is forced to drop out of art school to support his mother and sister as a jigsaw puzzle artist. Ray has only one painting he vows never to sell: the portrait of his beloved sweetheart. When pressured to break his oath, Ray sends the painting off with a promise and a prophecy. Through eight decades, the puzzle of the beautiful girl at the wishing well passes through four households, deeply affecting each without ever being fully completed.

Todd says she had two main inspirations when it came to writing this book. The first was a puzzle that sat unfinished on her dining room table for an entire year without being finished. The other was a television show starring Kiefer Sutherland called Touch.

"In every episode there were all these different stories that seemed unrelated, and then at the end, all of a sudden, they all converged. I was so fascinated by that idea, I thought, wow, would I ever love to write a story like that," says Todd. "I took the unfinished puzzle idea and I did that, where you've got five different stories where this puzzle passes through different households over 80 years and in the end they all converge. So, in a way, the book itself is a puzzle."

Todd will be holding a book signing at the Portage Regional Library from 1 to 4 p.m. today. She will be offering some free puzzles throughout the afternoon.

You can read more of Terrie Rodd here.