Stephanie Johnson

Belief is a vivid evocation of a way of life that has passed, a tale told on a grand scale: the story spans seventeen years, three countries and three religions. More than that, it is the story of how love and patience may triumph over violence and despair. In this compelling novel, spanning several continents and over thirty years, Stephanie Johnson returns to her vivid portrayal of the past, which won her such acclaim with The Heart's Wild Surf. It is a moving and amusing novel, intelligent and enthralling, and beautifully written.

Reviews of Belief

Belief is a study of the nature of love and belief. It asks two complex questions. Can love forgive everything? And where does belief/faith end and insanity begin? William is a violent, obnoxious man who uses women, religion and drink to shut out the real world. He is unsympathetic, fragile and pitiable. Myra is both a tragic victim and a martyr to her husband’s rages. She is unassertive, cowed and yet her profound love for William underscores her life. Both are utterly convincing. It is certainly a powerful novel, unsentimental and unflinching in its portrayal of the potentially destructive power of love and faith.
(Sara Wilson, The Historical Novels Review, U.K, February 19, 2002)

Johnson’s writing is strong, her characterisations convincing, and the novel incorporates some fine subthemes about racial discrimination and family dynamics.
(Publisher’s Weekly, New York, 25 March 2002)

Stephanie Johnson is a New Zealand writer whose output is as admirable as it is difficult to characterise. … Belief is her most ambitious work. Johnson has an exact ability to make palpable the grief of the inarticulate, and to delineate the physical and emotional bareness of the colonial landscape…
(Jane Stafford, Listener, November 18 2000)

Belief is an old-fashioned saga, full of historical detail and drama. But despite the familiarity of its form, this is an ambitious book, covering a couple of decades, four countries, several religions and a large cast.
(Ross Lay, Sunday Times, January 14, 2000)

This is a novel that touches on that rare virtue, fortitude.
(David McLaurin, The Tablet, January 5, 2002)

Time to immerse yourself in something utterly romantic but not written in vile, bodice-ripping style. New Zealander Johnson is a playwright, novelist and critically for imaginative writing, a poet… The story spans 17 years, six children, three countries, three religions and at nearly 500 pages will take you far from the weary war worries of the present world.
(Melanie Greenwood, This is Bristol, (UK), 26 October 2001)

Belief is a wonderful novel, powerful and often deeply disturbing, filled with New World landscapes, ambitious prophets and reluctant explorers. In her often quite claustrophobic worlds, Johnson tells stories of desire, escape and believing.
(Laura Kroetsch, New Zealand Herald, November 4-5, 2000.)

The Bible as sex manual?
(Elizabeth Crayford, Evening Post, 24 November 2000)