Most Popular Books by Stephanie Johnson

A moving novel about a blind son with a love for music that surpassed sight and gave him a vision uniquely his own. A fortnight after jazz pianist Carl Tyler''s funeral, his lover Tamara has one week to go before she leaves New Zealand to return to her native Chicago. His mother Nola wants to solve the mystery of her son''s death, to know everything Tamara might be able tell her, so she begins an account of Carl''s early life, in the hope that Tamara will remember a clue to what happened at its end. Nola was a dental nurse in the 1960s. Her life revolved around her spotless dental clinic at the local school, the ''murder house'' the kids called it. She didn''t know it, but by taking an interest in young Brett''s bruises, and meeting his father Bernie, her life would be changed for ever.

A powerful novel about friendship, guilt and sex and our changing notions of loyalty and culpability. Friends since childhood, Norman and Lyn grow up as next-door neighbours at the turn of the twentieth century. When Lyn is sent to manage a central North Island timber mill at the tender age of fourteen, Norman goes to visit him. There he is forced to confront a mysterious adult truth. Later, in their twenties, the two men commit an act so appalling that it ruptures their friendship for many years. In 1972 the elderly Norman meets a young woman in a pub. Burdened by the memory he must at long last assuage, he presses Bronwyn into becoming his unwilling confessor.

Darkly satirical and wickedly funny, this prize-winning novel takes a tilt at a wide range of contemporary matters. What happened that connects a diverse group of characters, along with an ex-All Black and an elephant? The people who committed the act of revenge in 1985 thought it was perfectly executed. Twenty years on, the truth is revealed, the truth about the deception that started it all. From sexual stereotyping to militant feminism, the machismo of the All Blacks to new age beliefs, psychiatry to womb burial and naming ceremonies, nothing is safe from the razor-sharp wit of this superb writer. This novel won the Deutz Medal for Fiction in the Montana New Zealand Book Awards.

Romantic, funny and surprising, this novel is a bold exploration of love in a time of confusion. In Fiji at the end of 1918, the distant Great War is drawing to a close and Spanish flu is raging. Twelve-year-old Olive McNab is sent from Suva to stay wih her aunt and uncle on a plantation on Tavenui. On this magical and mysterious island she uncovers some startling, well-kept secrets. The death of her mother, her friendship with two independent women, and a series of adventures change Olive''s life for ever. ''Johnson''s work is marked by a dry irony, a sharp-edged humour that focuses unerringly on the frailties and foolishness of her characters . . . There is compassion, though, and sensitivity in the development of complex situations . . . A purposeful sense of such larger concerns balances Johnson''s precision with the small details of situation, character and voice that give veracity and colour.'' - The Oxford Companion to New Zealand Literature

When she marries Kyle Evans, a captain at the local police department, Pier finds her new husband''s controlling ways comforting, until he tries to take over her life. Original.

High on the Southern Alps of New Zealand lies a fallen man, like ‘a black exclamation mark on a white page, Kiwi-noir face down in the snow’. Is he still alive? This funny, fearless, thought-provoking novel trains its sights on us. Kerry-Anne is kind, unlike her foster sister Joleen, who is a different kind of person altogether. Being locked down for Joleen will mean behind bars. For Kerry-Anne’s ex-husband, the National MP Lyall Hull, lockdown will also take on a new meaning when he goes on a cycle trip instead of staying at home. From lockdown in the Bay of Islands, Kerry-Anne tries to work out what both are up to. Will anyone come up smelling of roses? ‘Johnson has always had an eye for topicality’ — Steve Braunias

A collection of short stories to dip into and devour, by a prize-winning writer. These 23 stories show the breadth of Stephanie Johnson''s fine writing. It features poignant insights as well as her sharp wit, with characters as diverse as a woman arranging a second wife for her husband, a criminal returning to the care of his mother, and a widow who hears an octopus call her name.

A woman who was severely abuse by her father as a child does not realise she has a rebellious altyernative personality, which emerges and threatens to take over her life. It''s alive!

For novelist Stephanie Johnson, her relationship with Australia and Australians has been an ambivalent one. She has lived there for periods in her life, and her first book, a collection of short stories, was actually published in Australia. She was described then as a young Australian writer, something she says she agreed to ‘for reasons that are complex and some of them hardly honourable’. For Johnson the longing to return has waxed and waned. ‘Why don’t I live there?’ she often asks herself. Yet she is a sixth-generation New Zealander. In this BWB Text Johnson explores her elusive and ambivalent feelings about the sunburnt country – which includes a musician’s road trip there with her singer-songwriter son Skyscraper Stan – and in so doing casts fascinating light on some of the formative influences that have shaped the work of this award-winning New Zealand writer.

It is 1918 and Spanish Flu is epidemic in Suva, the capital of Fiji. Twelve year old Olive is sent with her brothers and grandmother to Taveuni to stay with her childless aunt and uncle on their sugar plantation to escape the disease as her mother lies dying of the flu in their family home. The months that follow hold magic and sorrow for Olive, as she uncovers well kept family secrets and grieves for her dying mother. The Sailmaker''s Daughter is dedicated to the memory of Stephanie Johnson''s grandmother, who was born in Fiji in 1905. Like Olive in the book, her grandmother was one of a large family; her father was the sailmaker in Suva and her mother died of the Spanish Flu at the end of the Great War. The Sailmaker''s Daughter is both a tribute to Stephanie Johnson''s grandmother and a powerful evocation of a mystical paradise lived and lost.

Buying a rundown motel to start a new life — what could possibly go wrong? In this funny and moving novel, prize-winning author Stephanie Johnson turns her wry eye on us. ‘What a fabulous read. Stephanie Johnson’s characters choose an old motel with little to offer except an amazing view in order to start a ‘new life’. Their first guests are a classic cast of the sorrowful and dysfunctional that every-day life throws at us these days. They are joined by their pregnant daughter, a mysterious young criminal from next door and a dog that knows more than all of them put together. The story is fast paced, and unpredictable, it’s smart, contemporary and heartbreaking all at once. And, just when it was about to make me cry, Johnson startled me into wild laughter. This is her best book ever, and I loved every page of it.’ – Fiona Kidman

Wit, compassion and insight combine in this entertaining novel that explores the politics and human comedy behind writers’ festivals and the publishing industry. Writers’ festivals can be hotbeds of literary and romantic intrigue, and the Oceania is up there with the best of them. Rookie director Rae McKay, recently returned from New York, fears she has bitten off more than she can chew. Pressure comes not only from local and international writers but also from the prestigious Opus Book Award, which this year is being hosted by the festival. Add to that high-level diplomatic fallout surrounding a dissident Chinese writer, Rae’s slowly disintegrating private life and ongoing dramas involving much loved characters of The Writing Class, and the result is a wise and witty novel that explores the contemporary phenomenon of the public face of the writer. This lively, stand-alone novel is as ‘intelligent, tender and funny’ as readers found The Writing Class. ''. . . a book that''s sophisticated, witty and - best of all - generous in its attitudes to its characters. It''s a love letter to reading and writing and things readers and writers share, especially the mutual effort to understand the world and the people in it.'' - Paul Little, North & South on The Writing Class

This unique novel is both a compelling love story and an insightful writing manual. ''Writers take what we learn of human nature and, fuelled by our longings for other existences and other times, forge new identities that can be as real as she is, sitting with her dog on the weathered step of the old house, stories that move us to tears or laughter.'' Merle Carbury, an author in her own right, also teaches Creative Writing. Amid the tension of the final semester of the year, her many and varied students prepare to submit their manuscripts. As Merle mentors their assorted ambitions, observes the romantic entanglements of her colleague, worries about her husband and is intrigued by their mysterious German lodger, she both imparts and embodies how to write a novel. Written by a prize-winning author, who is also an experienced teacher, the overarching intelligence, compassion and wicked humour in this inventive book make it a joy to read.

Returning to the biting and hilarious satire of contemporary New Zealand conveyed so well in the prize-winning The Shag Incident, this is a daring, astute and rollicking novel. John Tomb saw more of the world than most Englishmen of the early nineteenth century. From England to Australia to New Zealand, he led a life of adventure and romance. Two hundred years after his death, his tattooed head is discovered in an American museum. His spirit reawakened, John Tomb wryly observes those who would lay claim to his relic. Among others, there''s the New Zealand delegation headed by the Prime Minister and including Tomb''s Maori descendants, a leading historian, a prominent carver, the Diplomatic Protection Squad and the Prime Minister''s fifteen-year-old daughter. From England come Tomb''s English descendants and supporters, eager to take the head back to the land of his birth and their family museum. There is also a wealthy private collector and his clever wife ...

A brilliant novel about history, the forgetting and rewriting of it, and a satire on a society that has lost compassion in the process. Smooch is a ''Whistler'', a genetically altered lapdog with special talents, including the ability to remember his previous incarnations and to communicate directly from his brain by electronically downloading his thoughts onto disc. Smooch has been reincarnated many times, and has lived on many of the great laps of history, past and future. He can recall many of history''s key moments, such as the birth of Jesus and the imprisonment of Mary Queen of Scots. The Whistler is a virtuosic feat: wise, funny and intelligent. Smooch''s current reincarnation is in Sydney in the year 2318. The world has gone to hell: democratic government worldwide has given way to a society run by corporations, pollution is everywhere, and society is heavily stratified between the haves and have nots.

Wry and insightful, this short story is told by a young American girl, who is all too knowing about her own world, but ignorant about the Kiwi strangers she meets. When Ruthie''s father needs a drink, he takes his young daughter with him. She sits in the bar, with her pink panther, watching the drinkers and fending off unwanted approaches. One day there are strangers at the bar, with an unusual accent, saying they are from ''Nyu Zillun''. They give Ruthie a ''little green monster'' they call a ''tuckie'' and ask her about herself . . .

An epic novel of love and religion that sweeps across New Zealand and America at the turn of the nineteenth century. In 1899 William McQuiggan leaves his young Australian wife and new-born twins in New Zealand and travels to America in search of God. Belief is the story of his journey and of his marriage to Myra, who follows him from Auckland to Salt Lake City, Utah, and to Zion City, Illinois. With each leg of the journey the family grows until William is the reluctant father of six, and Myra''s understanding of her husband deepens and matures. 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.

When their husbands stop paying attention to them, three best friends take matters into their own hands as they engage in anonymous sexual encounters and passionate one-night stands. Reprint.

INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER “A deeply touching memoir . . . A beautiful, sometimes shocking NC-17 story, kept out of the lily-white, upper crust canon of literature—until now.” —The Washington Post The storytelling phenomenon Humans of New York and its #1 bestselling books have captivated a global audience of millions with personal narratives that illuminate the human condition. But one story stands apart from the rest... She is a woman as fabulous, unbowed, and irresistible as the city she lives in. Meet TANQUERAY. In 2019, Humans of New York featured a photo of a woman in an outrageous fur coat and hat she made herself. She instantly captured the attention of millions. Her name is Stephanie Johnson, but she’s better known to HONY followers as “Tanqueray,” a born performer who was once one of the best-known burlesque dancers in New York City. Reeling from a brutal childhood, immersed in a world of go-go dancers and hustlers, dirty cops and gangsters, Stephanie was determined to become the fiercest thing the city had ever seen. And she succeeded. Real, raw, and unapologetically honest, this is the full story of Tanqueray as told by Brandon Stanton—a book filled with never-before-told stories of Tanqueray''s struggles and triumphs through good times and bad, personal photos from her own collection, and glimpses of New York City from back in the day when the name “Tanqueray” was on everyone’s lips.