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
