Stephanie Johnson

The Glass Whittler
ISBN: 0-908652-33-X
Published by New Women's Press, NZ
and Penguin, Australia
First Published: 1988

"The Glass Whittler" was published simultaneously in Australia (Penguin) and New Zealand (New Women's Press) in 1988. It was Stephanie's first book of prose, a collection of twelve stories that centre mostly around the lives of women of all walks of life and persuasions, in Sydney, Auckland and Singapore.

Reviews of The Glass Whittler

Stephanie Johnson brings the old, the lonely, the bizarre and the ordinary woman into the light in her short stories and describes them with an irresistible compassion…. They are the high points of human nature – the sensitivity, the warmth, and the love, however awkward and bruising. The language is simple yet weighty, and always appropriate to the character, the atmosphere and the story…. Johnson’s irrepressible delight in language and her ability to find a sunny kitchen in the most dreary houses is certainly endearing.
(Dianne Pettis, Otago Daily Times)

… this is writing of ability and promise. More will undoubtedly be heard of Johnson.
(Paul Day, Waikato Times, 4.2.89)

In the title story, The Glass Whittler, a graceful lyricism in the way the tale is told distracts the reader from the essential absurdity of the story’s premise. You’ll Sleep With No Other, a billboard advertisement, is the basis for a romantic, wistful fairy story… Between these fantasy extremes, the other stories appear a lot more grubby and sweaty as characters respond realistically to big-city pressures.
(David Eggleton, Evening Post)

Stephanie Johnson won the Bruce Mason award as a promising young playwright in the early 80’s, and this first collection of 12 short stories includes to selections which have been broadcast by Radio New Zealand. There is a keen sense of drama in Johnson’s fiction, as well as confidence. Although the latter can be downright alarming at times, as in the story of the talking billboards, “You’ll Sleep with No Other”, this is nevertheless a brave attempt at something different.
(Cynthia Brophy, Listener, 1.4.89)