No Two Persons

Erica Bauermeister was one of my favorite local authors even before I began working with her daughter-in-law at Phinney Books. The author of The Scent Keeper (one of my favorite novels ever) and House Lessons: Renovating a Life (a memoir that will strike a chord with anyone who's ever remodeled a home) now writes about how a book can deeply affect a disparate group of people in No Two Persons. A young woman spends years writing a novel that she HAD to write, because her soul demanded it. When she sends it out into the world, we see how it changes people in both subtle and profound ways. A literary assistant coping as a new mom, an actor trying to be more than a pretty face, a teenager, an artist, a bookseller, and a host of others interact with the book in different—and meaningful—ways, proving that no two people ever read the exact same book. This beautiful, heartbreaking, inspiring book will definitely be in my Top 10 this year.