Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Invitation
    The Invitation
    The Invitation
    Ebook42 pages34 minutes

    The Invitation

    By Barb Johnson

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The lives of four unlikely friends intersect on the backstreets of New Orleans. Living amid poverty and violence, these fragile heroes of the American underclass redefine our notions of family, redemption, and love.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOpen Road Integrated Media
    Release dateOct 1, 2009
    ISBN9780061966408
    The Invitation
    Author

    Barb Johnson

    Barb Johnson has been a carpenter in New Orleans for more than twenty years. In 2008 she received her MFA from the University of New Orleans. While there, she won a grant from the Astraea Foundation, Glimmer Train's Short Story Award for New Writers, and Washington Square's short story competition. She is the fifth recipient of AROHO's $50,000 Gift of Freedom. This is her first collection.

    Read more from Barb Johnson

    Related to The Invitation

    Related ebooks

    Literary Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Summer Reads

      Dec 30, 2019

      Summer Reads
      7 min read

    • Article

      The Space Between Us

      Oct 9, 2019

      The Space Between Us
      8 min read

    • Article

      Longer on Moon

      Sep 22, 2022

      Longer on Moon
      19 min read

    • Article

      The Man I Should Have Married

      Dec 29, 2019

      The Man I Should Have Married
      11 min read

    • Article

      A Good Samaritan

      Dec 6, 2022

      It was hot that day, hot for the morning and hot for April and with a stickiness in the air that suggested something had to break. I was headed up the street to ask my neighbor Meech to give me a jump when I heard a scream come from the fourplex next

      10 min read

    • Article

      Three Poems

      Mar 1, 2019

      War is coming but my neighbors can’t believe it. I ring their doorbells and tell them: maybe not this May, but next June at the latest. They stare straight past me, at the maze of lawns, the sprinklers, a kid on a bike hurling the Globe onto porches.

      3 min read

    • Article

      The Fortune Teller

      Jul 10, 2021

      My head has a liquid feel to it as I stumble down the street. The bottle of red wine in my belly making it seem like my limbs have become balloons, and at any moment they might float away. Next to me, Michael has a stupid whiskey grin stretched acros

      18 min read

    • Article

      The Duplex

      Jun 9, 2020

      I moved to Los Angeles to sing. When was this? August? June? I was twenty-nine, and those were shapeless months, when the days blended together and I refused to pull them apart. My landlord was unusually close to her adult son. His name was Jeffrey,

      21 min read

    • Article

      Thirteen

      Jan 30, 2020

      Thirteen
      21 min read

    • Article

      Come with Me

      Dec 1, 2022

      Come with Me
      12 min read

    • Article

      Present Tense

      Sep 4, 2018

      Present Tense
      10 min read

    • Article

      Counter Waves

      Oct 23, 2020

      Counter Waves
      8 min read

    • Article

      Anthony Veasna So

      Mar 9, 2021

      Always they find us inappropriate, but today especially so. Here we are with nowhere to go and nothing to do, sitting in a rusty pickup truck, the one leaking oil, the one with the busted transmission that sounds like the Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Her

      22 min read

    • Article

      Blackberries

      Apr 5, 2023

      Blackberries
      24 min read

    • Article

      Righteous

      Jan 22, 2019

      Righteous
      8 min read

    • Article

      Just Passing

      Aug 17, 2020

      Zoe cracks the curtain in the bay window and watches as he bounces from one foot to another in the cold. Tap, tap, tap, he goes at the letterbox. But she shouldn’t even let him in. He’s trouble. He throws his arms out and shouts through the glass: “S

      5 min read

    • Article

      Shush, Shush

      Jan 1, 2023

      Shush, Shush
      12 min read

    • Article

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time

      Dec 1, 2023

      Proverbs Of A Faceless Time
      9 min read

    • Article

      All Of Us Here

      Jun 4, 2020

      All Of Us Here
      6 min read

    • Article

      Averted Vision

      Sep 1, 2022

      Averted Vision
      25 min read

    • Article

      Here’s What I Don’t Say

      Jun 1, 2019

      Here’s What I Don’t Say
      13 min read

    • Article

      The Leather Coat

      Apr 4, 2024

      The Leather Coat
      6 min read

    • Article

      Tomorrows

      Mar 15, 2022

      The night, as most nights, was like a dream. At ten, once I’d fed the dog the last scraps off the stove. Once I’d cursed the cat for scratching up my mama’s antique furniture, then welcomed him back into my arms. Once I’d slicked my hair into a ponyt

      26 min read

    • Article

      A Last Look Around

      Dec 4, 2020

      A Last Look Around
      5 min read

    • Article

      Three Blocks

      Aug 10, 2023

      I lock my car and shove my keys into the pocket of my big coat. The parking garage is nearly full this morning, so I have to use the elevator to get down to the exit. The moment the doors slide open, there is a woman waiting for me. She is wearing my

      8 min read

    • Article

      Cat World

      Oct 2, 2020

      Cat World
      12 min read

    • Article

      Rising Sign

      Feb 4, 2021

      Rising Sign
      10 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Invitation

    4/5

    94 ratings2 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      I read this in ebook format and listened to it as audiobook. This is an expansion on the viral poem "the invitation" and tells the stories of its writer, what inspired the book, and what is important in life.

      The thoughts of the writer resonated with me greatly, particularly the ones about longing, and what one aches for. I have also found solace in knowing that life does not serve roses all the time, and one has to fall back to a ritual, prayer, meditation or exercise. These habits that we establish when things are going well could save our lives when we lose hope in everything. Very relevant for our current times.
    • 5/5
      ...It doesn’t interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself. If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul. If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy...

    Book preview

    The Invitation - Barb Johnson

    ^'ebook_preview_excerpt.htmluV[nF`$6~)Q7&9y3CC'IRCV +ӜtsKakdsOP177y{c*tiǐ_ۈۘ6 6X21 X vW} ||J)dٙע}_eK} C[ĹvCxss(0 9ܶM^6q.۹=)a,?an#_l]O?0Zg%&o8{dloo_fҎ; ٤..!)#"/MX;CN;3PN{#d.Es06KouRBߨTС6,aTLSH/YS^Kܡ +ºt:'h\Ā"rJlE\lMf.E(ad&GR1>IZ{C"j Ԏ' V/ޫs wGY@³g֦ʂ|2j_(sMQYIMF/T:s 45d+UY("T z1 "r jRE 8+1~Ztˀ&`f5 4#AAԥr>b7e։k=S7!H-T-ozi]U7t"5B:f[$$ԩI'vCy;n4\dI =Xp̫ΔkEqN?Nk =7I~MXd7 (:h*&FW7xA| ƞZمU[J5V3 'k&\,H{%}h\)\g=Y=e$ q }*sZTȦ9`RG8 Z@bt+gK ]wz0گuaL9+l4e轨W(')P,6{d%<82x;}QeR'%*i l3mALnF$W|[}a :S/oSeBu!}* 3L]EzƄ餏U5]QhT`\ (AN 2P%|] )G M\Ț^Dv RU-fbi[7v`y=})RTq vUR6'=A7lݶ?9QF?>Skxo ހU7DVDǠj[:\;e]a WG &~Ś0B /3ƀ֞R$
    Enjoying the preview?
    Page 1 of 1