Joy School - Softcover

In this exquisite new novel by bestselling writer Elizabeth Berg, a young girl falls in love - and learns how sorrow can lead to an understanding of joy. Katie has moved to Missouri with her distant, occasionally abusive father. She feels very alone: her much-loved mother is dead; she finds it difficult to settle in, in her new school and her only friends fall far short of being ideal companions. When she falls through the ice while skating, she meets Jimmy. He is handsome, older than her, 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 felt when it goes unrequited, and the stubbornness of hope that will not let go. Joy School illuminates how the things that hurt the most can sometimes teach us the lessons that really matter.

Elizabeth Berg is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Never Change and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Joy School was selected as American Library Association Best Book of the Year. Elizabeth Berg won the 1997 New England Bookseller's Award for her novels. A former nurse, she lives in Chicago.