Questa serie approfondisce le complessità dell'adolescenza e dei turbamenti familiari, spesso ambientata sullo sfondo della vita militare. I lettori seguono una giovane protagonista mentre affronta perdite, abusi e la ricerca di amore e crescita personale. Le narrazioni esplorano temi profondi di resilienza, sorellanza e la ricerca dell'identità in mezzo alle avversità. È un toccante viaggio di formazione sulla ricerca di forza e speranza in circostanze difficili.
In the sweltering heat of a Southwestern summer, on a small army base in rural Texas, Katie waits impatiently for her life to change. Though battered by the recent death of her mother, her spirit remains miraculously stong. She is filled with longings: for a boy to fall in love with her the way Dickie Mac has fallen for her sister; for her father to stop hitting her; for her life to become less uncertain. And she knows that day is coming soon.
In this exquisite new novel by bestselling writer Elizabeth Berg, a young woman falls in love -- and learns how sorrow can lead to an understanding of joy. 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.