Joseph

And then we told them. The first thing that happened was that everything was swept off the table, crockery and cutlery crashed and clanged on the tiled floor. I didn t mind that; I was expecting it. The next thing that happened was that a chair hit the wall behind my head and I didn t mind that, I was expecting that, too. Then the table was overturned and I had to admire her father s determination. It was a fine piece of furniture, solid cedar, and it took some effort for a guy of his size to overturn it. Then her father crossed the kitchen and his face was about six inches from my chest, turned upward like a flaming sun, shooting out asteroids of egg and bread that spattered my face. Relocated temporally to the 1970s, Joseph explores the story of Christ's adoptive father in a modern setting. It delves deep into the bond of father and son and imagines the emotions, feelings and life of the man who took the responsibility for safeguarding the son of another. It explores the isolation and alienation of a good man in a world he struggles to understand and the impact on him of the choices made by his wife, his son and those surrounding him. Alive with rich imagery and a compelling, multi-layered narrative, Joseph is written in the beautiful prose characteristic of John MacKenna.


Genre: Literary Fiction