The Handmaid and the Carpenter

Informationen zum Autor Elizabeth Berg is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including We Are All Welcome Here , The Year of Pleasures , The Art of Mending, Say When, True to Form, Never Change, and Open House, which was an Oprah's Book Club selection in 2000. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep was short-listed for the ABBY Award in 1996. The winner of the 1997 New England Booksellers Award for her body of work, Berg is also the author of a nonfiction work, Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True. She lives in Chicago. To schedule a speaking engagement, please contact American Program Bureau at www.apbspeakers.com Klappentext In this wonderful novel about love and trust! hope and belief! the bestselling author of "We Are All Welcome Here" and "The Year of Pleasures" transports readers to Nazareth in biblical times to reimagine the events of the classic Christmas story. Leseprobe chapter one Nazareth january, 4 b.c. Joseph Outside, a thunderstorm raged. a great wind frightened the animals and bent the trees low to the ground, shaking their leaves almost off their branches. But inside the house of just-married Simon and Esther, there was light and laughter. A long table covered with a striped cloth was pushed up close to the wall, and it was laden with earthenware platters decorated by palm fronds and piled high with eggplant and olives, with spit-roasted beef and lamb and fish, with rounds of flatbread, with grapes and oranges and figs and sweet cakes. Beneath the table, sixteen-year-old Joseph sat cross-legged in silence, watching sandals and ankles and hems of tunics go by. No one had seen himhe was almost totally obscured by the tableclothand he enjoyed the anonymity. He was of course a man now, but he could not resist on occasion returning to the pleasures of boyhood. This was one such pleasure: to sit hidden and watch the elders as they drank ever more wine and acted ever more foolish. In the corner, he saw old Samuel weaving as he stood with his feet far apart, trying to focus on the face before him. Wine had sloshed from his wooden cup to dribble down his mantle. You will soon be on the floor, Joseph muttered, and was startled to hear a voice say, I am surprised he is not already. Joseph turned to see a girl squatting just behind him. You have found the seat of honor, she said. May I join you here? There was something familiar about her. We are known to each other? he asked. She nodded. You have seen me many times. And you spoke to me when last you saw me. You came to the well when I was there last summer. I was gathering water with my mother; you were passing by with your father, Jacob. Your memory serves you well. And I remember now, also. You are called Mary. She was a wonder to behold, with her black curls escaped from her braid, her cheeks flushed dusky rose, her gaze so direct and yet mysterious. She tucked her hair behind her ears, and he saw the lines of her high cheekbones beginning to assert themselves. Her lips were full and pink. He was suddenly dry-mouthed, his heart knocking about in his chest like a caged animal wild to be released. Yes, I am Mary, she said. And you are called Joseph. And her voice! Low and musical, laughlike. The utter completeness of her beauty was astonishing; it made for a rush of emotion in him so strong it felt like anger. You have . . . grown, he told her, and his voice cracked, causing him to blush to the center of his soul. She appeared not to notice but instead stared calmly into his eyes. And you also. How old are you? he asked.

Auteur
Elizabeth Berg is the New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including We Are All Welcome Here, The Year of Pleasures, The Art of Mending, Say When, True to Form, Never Change, and Open House, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection in 2000. Durable Goods and Joy School were selected as ALA Best Books of the Year, and Talk Before Sleep was short-listed for the ABBY Award in 1996. The winner of the 1997 New England Booksellers Award for her body of work, Berg is also the author of a nonfiction work, Escaping into the Open: The Art of Writing True. She lives in Chicago.

To schedule a speaking engagement, please contact American Program Bureau at www.apbspeakers.com  

Texte du rabat

In this wonderful novel about love and trust, hope and belief, the bestselling author of "We Are All Welcome Here" and "The Year of Pleasures" transports readers to Nazareth in biblical times to reimagine the events of the classic Christmas story.

Résumé
This wonderful novel transports us to Nazareth in biblical times, where we meet Mary and Joseph–and understand them as never before: young, in love, and suddenly faced with an unexpected pregnancy. Aided by a great and abiding love, they endure challenges to their relationship as well as threats to their lives as they come to terms with the mysterious circumstances surrounding the birth of their child, Jesus. For Mary, the pregnancy is a divine miracle and a privilege. For Joseph, it is an ongoing test of his faith–in his wife as well as in his God. Exquisitely written and imbued with emotional truth and richness of detail, The Handmaid and the Carpenter explores lives touched profoundly by miracles large and small.

Praise for The Handmaid and the Carpenter

“The oldest story ever told becomes fresh, even modern. [Grade:] A.”
–Entertainment Weekly

“Poetic, reflective, and intricate . . . There is a crystalline humanity, a logical vulnerability in [Elizabeth] Berg’s imaginative interpretation [that] brings novel resplendence to a familiar story.”
–Booklist

“Sweetly lyrical and yet movingly realistic.”
–New York Daily News

“[Berg] movingly takes the story of the least ordinary couple in history, and by respectfully evoking the rhythms and rituals of
daily life, makes them more human, yet no less transcendent.”
–Richmond Times-Dispatch

“Imaginative and compelling.”
–Star Ledger

Échantillon de lecture
chapter one

Nazareth

january, 4 b.c.

Joseph

Outside, a thunderstorm raged. a great wind frightened the animals and bent the trees low to the ground, shaking their leaves almost off their branches. But inside the house of just-married Simon and Esther, there was light and laughter. A long table covered with a striped cloth was pushed up close to the wall, and it was laden with earthenware platters decorated by palm fronds and piled high with eggplant and olives, with spit-roasted beef and lamb and fish, with rounds of flatbread, with grapes and oranges and figs and sweet cakes.

Beneath the table, sixteen-year-old Joseph sat cross-legged in silence, watching sandals and ankles and hems of tunics go by. No one had seen him—he was almost totally obscured by the tablecloth—and he enjoyed the anonymity. He was of course a man now, but he could not resist on occasion returning to the pleasures of boyhood. This was one such pleasure: to sit hidden and watch the elders as they drank ever more wine and acted ever more foolish. In the corner, he saw old Samuel weaving as he stood with his feet far apart, trying to focus on the face before him. Wine had sloshed from his wooden cup to dribble down his mantle. “You will soon be on the floor,” Joseph muttered, and was startled to hear a voice say, “I am surprised he is not already.”

Joseph turned to see a girl squatting just behind him. “You have found the seat of honor,” she said. “May I join you here?”

There was something familiar about her. “We are known to each other?” he asked.

She nodded. “You have seen me many times. And you spoke …