Joy School by Elizabeth Berg

Joy School by Elizabeth Berg

Winner of the New England Book Award for Fiction

Katie, the narrator, has relocated to Missouri with her distant, occasionally abusive father, and she feels very much alone: her much-loved mother is dead; her new school is unaccepting of her; and her only friends fall far short of being ideal companions. When she accidentally falls through the ice while skating, she meets Jimmy. He is handsome, far older than she, and married, but she is entranced. As their relationship unfolds, so too does Katie's awareness of the pain and intensity first love can bring.

Beautifully written in Berg's irresistible voice, Joy School portrays the soaring happiness of real love, the deep despair one can feel when it goes unrequited, and the stubbornness of hope that will not let us let go. Here also is recognition that love can come in many forms and offer many different things. Joy School illuminates, too, how the things that hurt the most can sometimes teach us the lessons that really matter.

About Durable Goods, Elizabeth Berg's first novel, Andre Dubus said, Elizabeth Berg writes with humor and a big heart about resilience, loneliness, love and hope. And the transcendence that redeems. The same will be said of Joy School, Elizabeth Berg's most luminous novel to date.

A] painfully accurate tale of first love. Berg can conjure character with a minimum of words and a rainbow of nuance. The reader misses Katie as soon as the book ends. --Publishers Weekly, starred review

Elizabeth Berg is the author of many bestselling novels, including The Confession Club, Night of Miracles, The Story of Arthur Truluv, Open House (an Oprah's Book Club selection), Talk Before Sleep, and The Year of Pleasures, as well as the short story collection The Day I Ate Whatever I Wanted. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year. She adapted The Pull of the Moon into a play that enjoyed sold-out performances in Chicago and Indianapolis. Berg's work has been published in thirty countries, and three of her novels have been turned into television movies. She is the founder of Writing Matters, a quality reading series dedicated to serving author, audience, and community. She teaches one-day writing workshops and is a popular speaker at venues around the country. Some of her most popular Facebook postings have been collected in Make Someone Happy, Still Happy, and Happy to Be Here. She lives outside Chicago.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780345423092
ISBN 10	0345423097
Title	Joy School
Author	Elizabeth Berg
Series	Katie Nash
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	1998-03-24
Number of pages	240
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.