P. J. Ceren

Joseph: Everyone Knows Who He Is, but Nobody Knows Who He Was. P. J. Ceren

Joseph is a retelling of the love story of Mary and Joseph from the point of view of a happy craftsman who struggles with the visions that come to him. He fears he might be mad as he and Mary each see things that do not belong to the sane world. Joseph is as drunk in love as any teenager would be until Mary fractures their relationship with her preposterous claim. But their love is strong and echoes the best of the love we each have known in our own lives today. Doubt and faith always dance, while love plays the music. Joseph is the perfect character for the subject of a novel. Everyone knows who he is, but nobody knows who he was. He is not that cardboard cutout from a nativity scene. He is a passionate man who struggles with what God wants him to do that is not at all what he expected of life. In other words, he is just like us. The intimate view from inside the family follows Jesus as he learns what it means to be man from his stepfather. He learns craftsmanship, faith, how to love, and how to tell a joke. Joseph uses his life to teach Jesus how to grow into his destiny. And in a surprise ending, teaches him the one thing his other father could never do. The old story has staled in the retelling through the millennia, but these new characters who share our passions and frustrations make it live again to our jaded ears and hearts. Joseph is a mystery who becomes a mirror.