The Believer: Encounters with the Beginning, the End, and Our Place in the Middle

Krasnostein’s writing is lyrical and stylish, and imaginative in a way that often feels invigorating … The Believer is a fascinating book, and one that asks big questions — about connectedness and separation, certainly, but also about love and grief, resilience and faith, and all the ways in which we situate ourselves within the world. And it is informed always by a sprawling curiosity and deep humanity, which make it an affirming, and deeply moving read. Guardian

Krasnostein walks a very careful line between religion and belief, with forays into both the divine and devastation. The way in which the writer brings out the humanity of … various believers is lyrical and full of images that allow the reader a glimpse into the hearts and minds of people with a passion for what they believe, even in the face of opposition from friends, family, society as a whole and, of course, factual reality.

Winnipeg Free Press

A sympathetic inquiry into the vicissitudes of faith.

Kirkus Reviews

The author has the rare combination of skills that allows her to not only build enough trust and rapport with her interview subjects that they will reveal intimate details about their lives, but to also distil a person down to their essence and put that on the page in a way that is simultaneously informative, sensitive and enthralling . . . The true strength of The Believer is in each compellingly rendered story . . . Readers who liked The Trauma Cleaner or Ramona Koval’s A Letter To Layla will find much to appreciate in The Believer.

Books+Publishing

This book has got me thinking far more than most. Sarah Krasnostein tells the stories of people who live in mindsets unfamiliar to her with compassion and respect … Krasnostein’s art is that she never places herself on the throne of judgment … The result is both beautiful and unpredictable. Krasnostein is neither naïve nor cynical. She is an existential adventurer. Sydney Morning Herald

Transcendent, expansive writing that does the thing that many writers strive for but only few achieve: to show us humanity in clear and compassionate detail, to deepen our understanding of it and to reveal the mysterious and myriad ways in which we are all connected. It is nothing short of astounding! WellRead

Krasnostein writes beautifully, and emerges as a thoughtful and compassionate observer … The Believer is, in many ways, my favourite kind of book: one that requires a little extra attention and engagement, calling on the reader as an active participant in its project of making meaning … The result is a meditative and intensely rewarding reading experience, the impact of which lingers long after the final page. West Australian

Sarah Krasnostein, who blew us all away with her fantastic book The Trauma Cleaner, brings her inquisitive nature and empathetic way with people to her new book The Believer … By seeking such disparate subjects, Krasnostein has woven the threads of their stories, and their very different belief systems, into a tapestry that is rich with life, love, and stories. I expect this will be running off the shelves, and deservedly so.

Readings

[Sarah Krasnostein] listens and records and keeps going back for more until she has built up a picture, complete with all the subtleties that human emotion, faith, and intellect offer …There is no judgement here, just the healthy scepticism of an inquiring mind willing to listen, even when the encounters make her uncomfortable or challenge her own theories and convictions. Herald Sun

A fascinating journey, with an erudite, compulsively reflective companion. InDaily

What’s most intriguing in this book [is] Krasnostein herself as the writer, grappling throughout with skepticism, curiosity, personal biases and even embarrassment … [The Believer] is a fascinating depiction of one individual disbeliever’s encounter with the irrational: a portrait of the author’s expanding capacity for embracing the reality of inexplicable experiences in life on Earth.

Broadview

Shakespeare’s Hamlet famously reminded us that there are more things in heaven and Earth than have ever been dreamt of within our philosophy. Krasnostein offers her own elegant version of this when she writes that ‘there is much more in the world than wind and wave.'

Ottawa Citizen