Carry Me Home, Sisters of St. Joseph
2017
First Published
4.82
Average Rating
33
Number of Pages
"In Marie-Helene Bertino's 'Carry Me Home, Sisters of St. Joseph,' we meet Ruby, who is decidedly not religious, has lost her boyfriend, a lawyer-turned-Lone Star Steakhouse rodeo clown, to a waitress also under Lone Star employ. She is hired by the Sisters of St. Joseph as the new groundskeeper and general helper of the convent. For her, the job is part necessity, part therapy. Bertino is a deft comedian and writes with the kind of empathy that would melt a grudge or warm a broken heart. This story appeared in a different form in American Short Fiction Spring Issue of 2010, and in the author’s debut collection Safe as Houses, published by the Iowa University Press in 2012. We are thrilled to revitalize the piece now; it is a rare talent that can distill into a single story comedy and loss, sanctuary and journey, the power of both independence and desire, and the universal need for survival, whatever that might look like." - Lucie Shelly About the Marie-Helene Bertino is the author of the novel 2 A.M. AT THE CAT’S PAJAMAS and the story collection SAFE AS HOUSES. Awards include the O. Henry Prize, The Pushcart Prize, and The Iowa Award for Short Fiction. She teaches at NYU and in the low-residency MFA program at IAIA (Institute of American Indian Arts) in Santa Fe and is Editor-at-Large for Catapult. For more about dancing nuns, please About the About the Electric Literature is an independent publisher amplifying the power of storytelling through digital innovation. Electric Literature’s weekly fiction magazine, Recommended Reading, invites established authors, indie presses, and literary magazines to recommended great fiction. Once a month we feature our own recommendation of original, previously unpublished fiction. Recommended Reading is supported by the Amazon Literary Partnership, the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. For other links from Electric Literature, follow us, or sign up for our eNewsletter.
Avg Rating
4.82
Number of Ratings
11
5 STARS
82%
4 STARS
18%
3 STARS
0%
2 STARS
0%
1 STARS
0%
goodreads
Author
Marie-Helene Bertino
Author · 7 books
Marie-Helene Bertino was born and raised in Philadelphia. She is the author of the novels Parakeet (NYTimes Editor's Choice) and 2 a.m. at The Cat's Pajamas, and the short story collection Safe as Houses. Awards include The O. Henry Prize, The Pushcart Prize, The Iowa Short Fiction Award, The Mississippi Review Prize, The Center for Fiction NYC Emerging Writers Fellowship and The Frank O'Connor International Short Story Fellowship in Cork, Ireland. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Tin House, Electric Literature, Granta, Guernica, BOMB, among many others. She is the recipient of fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Hedgebrook Writers Colony, The Center For Fiction NYC, and Sewanee Writers Conference, where she was the Walter E. Dakin fellow. In June 2021, "Disrupting Realism," an online master class and panel she designed to make graduate level resources available at no charge, was attended by 1,300 people. She has taught in the Creative Writing programs of NYU, The New School, and Institute for American Indian Arts. She currently teaches in the Creative Writing Department at Yale University. Her fourth book, the novel Beautyland, will be published in January 2024 by FSG. More info: www.mariehelenebertino.com
