Publishers Weekly
03/13/2023
Bauermeister’s moving linked collection (after The Scent Keeper) revolves around a novel by a reclusive author. After Alice Wein’s older brother, Peter, a once-promising swimmer, dies from an overdose, she writes a novel titled Theo with an eponymous main character inspired by her brother. Over the next 10 years, Theo is plucked from an agent’s slush pile by a new mother and is later recorded as an audiobook by an actor whose career was hindered by a disease that causes skin discoloration. The stories, all of which feature a life derailed by circumstance, become more engaging as they focus on Theo’s readers. The overarching narrative takes a while to get going—early stories such as “The Writer” are vague—but the author hits her stride with “The Teenager,” in which a secretly homeless scholarship kid finds a lifeline through sympathetic adults. Another standout is “The Caretaker,” in which a widower gets to experience his beloved wife’s presence one more time through her marginalia. “The Agent,” a satisfying closer, checks in on Alice’s agent at the end of her own long career. There’s plenty of charm to this thoughtful take on a book’s impact on its readers. (May)
From the Publisher
"I loved this delightful gem of a novel: a deeply satisfying, unique reading experience. If you’re passionate about reading I know you’ll be passionate about this book."—Liane Moriarty, New York Times bestselling author
"In her lyrical, haunting new novel, No Two Persons, Erica Bauermeister shares the unexpected, exquisite ways in which one special book transforms its readers' lives. As the novel-within-the-novel passes through the hands of a vast array of people—ranging from an actor to a swimmer to a homeless student, among others—it acts as a guide for the lost, serving in different manners for different readers. A wondrous ode to the power of fiction, No Two Persons will linger with its readers in much the same way its fictional novel remained with its characters."—Marie Benedict, New York Times bestselling author
"Rendered in precise and distilled prose, No Two Persons beautifully explores the connections that save us, the traumas that shape us, and the power of words and story to heal us. With spot-on descriptions and a keen understanding of human vulnerability, Erica Bauermeister has written a book filled with power and grace that will utterly transform its reader. A large-hearted, wise, and magnificent novel." — Marjan Kamali, author of The Stationery Shop and Together Tea
“What a joy to see the separate parts of No Two Person leap across time to build its terrific story. When the tragic life of a writer’s brother fires the novel she’s always wanted to write, its path in the world is beyond what we could guess. I loved the power this plot gives to reading itself, that dear and vital realm of our experience.” —Joan Silber, award-winning author of Secrets of Happiness
“Unforgettable. No Two Persons is a beautiful and haunting love letter to the redemptive power of stories and the impressive mark it leaves on readers. Bauermeister is a powerful storyteller who weaves a brilliant narrative, while painting portraits of compelling characters." —Kim Michele Richardson, New York Times bestselling author of The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek
"I am madly in love with this book. Erica Bauermeister has written a gloriously original celebration of fiction, and the ways it deepens our lives. Each story in this cycle stands alone, and at the same time carries the arc—not only through the novel that's its central character, but a cast of recurring players who connect in the most unexpected and satisfying ways. With its beautiful parts that add up to a brilliant whole, No Two Persons made my reader's heart sing." —Nina de Gramont, New York Times bestselling author of The Christie Affair
"The greatest compliment a writer can pay another is to say, 'I wish I'd written that.' Well, I wish I'd written No Two Persons. I couldn't put it down. Evocative. Brilliant. Complex. Immensely satisfying. Storytelling at its best. This is one I'll be recommending to all and sundry for a long time." —Alka Joshi, author of The Henna Artist and The Secret Keeper of Jaipur
"Wondrous and moving . . . a love letter to every writer, reader and human who has ever opened their heart to the transformative power of story."—JoAnne Tomkins, author of What Comes After
"This is a novel of almost unbearable truth and beauty and depth. Plot, character, prose—the perfect book." —Louisa Morgan, author of A Secret History of Witches
"As perfect a depiction of the power of story as one could ever find, or need." —Natalie Jenner, bestselling author of The Jane Austen Society and Bloomsbury Girls
"Gorgeous, nuanced, and intimate, No Two Persons will stay with you well after the last page is turned." —Anna Quinn, author of The Night Child
"A very tender, very true book about the power of stories. Why we write them, why we need them to survive. Bauermeister creates a kaleidoscope of beautiful, unexpected ways of seeing the world."—Yara Zgheib, author of No Land to Light On
"In this beautifully written and inventive novel, Erica Bauermeister creates stories within a story, tying them together with gossamer thread. I was sad when I came to the end of this captivating and engrossing novel." —Diane Chamberlain, New York Times bestselling author of The Last House on the Street
June 2023 - AudioFile
This production presents an audiobook within an audiobook. Bauermeister's latest is a collection of 10 interconnected short stories that are woven into a colorful tapestry of a novel, which is being produced as an audiobook. The production's 10 outstanding real-life narrators portray the fictional audiobook's author and its nine narrators. Each of the talented real-life narrators brings their character vividly to life. For example, Rachel Jacobs, as the Author, recounts her journey to find her voice and write the book she was meant to write. Braden Wright, the Actor, loses confidence when a skin condition derails his movie career but gains a stronger voice when he helps bring the fictional audiobook to life. The icing on the cake is the bonus conversation between Bauermeister and master narrator Cassandra Campbell as they discuss the writing and narrating processes. N.E.M. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2023-02-24
In this uniquely structured novel, Bauermeister explores the impact one book can have on numerous readers.
Alice Wein has always wanted to be a writer but struggles to find the story she’s meant to tell until the loss of her brother while she’s in college. That tragedy prompts her to leave school and begin writing a novel, called Theo, about an abused boy who finds solace in swimming and attempts to escape his father's domineering by faking his death only for his father to die. Theo becomes the backbone of Bauermeister’s novel; structured as loosely intertwined short stories, the book charts the writing, publishing, and reading of Theo from the perspectives of 10 people, including Alice, her publisher, a bookseller who forms a relationship with Alice, and readers the book touched in varying ways. Each reader connects with something different in Theo's story, which Bauermeister intends as a testament to the power of literature. While the book-within-a-book structure is interesting, there's little depth for readers to sink their teeth into. The chapters move quickly, and key aspects of the overarching plot are missing. For example, Kit, the bookseller who becomes Alice’s partner, is introduced in a chapter charting the dissolution of his engagement to someone else. He only reappears in the epilogue, when his relationship with Alice is alluded to as he convinces her to attend an event. Alice's own path to being a professional writer is similarly underdeveloped; a professor recognizes her talent within a few sessions of one of her first college classes and becomes a mentor, though his role is confined to a few encouraging but trite suggestions that she write the story she's “meant to write.” She does and is published quickly despite a few early rejections that are discussed and moved past within half a page.
An interesting structure can't redeem this underdeveloped and simplistic take on the ways readers engage with novels.
![Iron Flame (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]: The Empyrean 2](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/2940191638263_p0_v1_s90x140.jpg "Iron Flame (1 of 2) [Dramatized Adaptation]: The Empyrean 2")
