Erica Bauermeister’s No Two Persons is a love letter to books and the power of connection they hold.

This novel is unlike any other I’ve ever read. Each chapter features a new character, with select crossovers. It almost feels more like a short story collection, yet they are clearly all connected.

When we put our art out into the world, the path it takes is no longer up to us. Different people will each have their own reaction to it, viewing it through their unique lens and life experiences. Yet the art’s ability to impact each person stays the same, though the impact varies person to person.

Erica Bauermeister apparently only writes books that stay with the reader long after the cover is closed. I still randomly think about The Scent Keeper, and I know No Two Persons is going to unexpectedly pop into my mind just as much. These stories have staying power. Why is that?

Is it the characters, who are so thoroughly and intimately developed they feel like dear friends, and yet in whom the reader can place themselves, prism-like, seeing the different paths that could be taken? Is it the lyrical writing, the heart-wrenching scenarios, the layers of connection visible? Is there a thin red string, connecting us all to our pasts and our potential futures? I think it’s the magical combination of all these factors, along with the author’s unique voice and style. No Two Persons is a beautiful novel that pulls you in and doesn’t let go.

Regardless, once again Bauermeister has crafted a gorgeous, thought-provoking novel that readers dive into head first, resisting coming up for air because the world down there is so inviting.

No Two Persons will be available Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

Thank you to the author, NetGalley, and St. Martins Press for an advanced e-arc such that I could share my honest opinions.

Digital Advance Review Copy received from the Publisher via NetGalley

Erica Bauermeister is the author of The Scent Keeper, a book that I really enjoyed, so I picked up this new one in anticipation and was not disappointed. Alice is a writer who loves stories and after a tragic family incident is overcome with the need to write the story of one fictional boy named Theo. Her book affects a myriad of people in different ways which is explored in this loosely connected series of short stories. This book was so profound at times and I highlighted more quotes than usual. This a definite read for book lovers.

Happy Publication Day to No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister. I saw this book mentioned by Modern Mrs Darcy, and had read and loved The Scent Keeper. I hoped that this book would be just as warm, lovely and memorable and it exceeded my expectations.

In this latest novel by Erica, she writes about how everyone experiences reading, showcases the beauty of how a book can transport you and make a lasting impact on your life. Each character’s experience with the book ‘Theo’ is unique. With every chapter, I kept thinking, this will be my favorite character. I loved how the characters each have their personal voices, but there is a thread in their stories.

I laughed, I cried, I hugged my Kindle to my chest - all signs a great reading experience. I'm certain this will be one of my best reads of 2023. Highly recommend.

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for providing access to a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

What an interesting concept for a book!

It has never really occurred to me, this idea of following a book from author to the readers it goes to. How it touches them, impacts them, perhaps even sends them in a different direction than they were headed. I resonated more with some than others but all of it was interesting and thought provoking.

I definitely recommend No Two Persons.

No Two Persons is that rare gem that grabs your attention on the first page and keeps you up late at night reading. It is about the beauty of books, how they captivate the reader, how they take you to a different place, and how they affect you in such a way that it helps you with your own situation and circumstance. The authors writing is just stunning. It is a beautifully written story, full of warmth and heart and It highlights the impact a book can make upon a reader’s life. The way this story came together was very unique and heart warming. I was left wanting more and could not put this one down. This is a must read! You'll love it! I received a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

I will admit that I was nervous about starting No Two Persons. It was getting great reviews, but the premise of the book — that no two readers experience a book in the same way — made me worry that it would be overly sentimental and cloying to my cold, dead heart. I’m happy to report that I need not have worried. Either my cynical self is softening in my old age (not likely), or Erica Bauermeister has managed to thread the needle beautifully, writing a thoughtful ode to books and what they mean to readers.

No Two Persons is a book of connected short stories, starting with Alice, who wrote a book called Theo. From there we see the exhausted literary agent assistant with a newborn discover Theo, a famous actor turned audiobook narrator take meaning from it, and on and on. It definitely could have been cheesy, but Bauermeister’s characters have depth and their stories are often unexpected.

I think this book will be a hit with many readers — and I suspect that I might not be the only grinchy reader to feel her heart grow a few sizes.

No Two Persons was such a perfect book! It starts with Alice who writes a book called “Theo” after a tragic event in her life. Each chapter after this follows a different person and how they were impacted by the book. I was surprised how quickly I came to care about each character, even though they were only in one chapter of the book.

Sometimes in books like these, I’m really sad to end a chapter and am not ready to start a new one about a new person but with this book each chapter enriched the next. There were a lot of tie ins through out the book that were so fun to see and the ending was absolute perfection. The writing was excellent and I was really drawn in each chapter by characters who felt real and authentic. Many times while reading a quote would stand out to me about how I feel about reading and those felt really special.

I adore this book and will be thinking about it for a long time! It was a very satisfying reading experience for book lovers.

Thank you netgalley for the advanced copy of this book!

Erica Bauermeister won me over several years ago with her excellent "The School of Essential Ingredients." I loved "House Lessons" as well, but have had a miss or two with her writing at times. I was delighted to find that "No Two Persons took me right back to everything I loved about her previous works. Similar to "Essential Ingredients" this novel features loosely connected characters each with their own story. I have a feeling everyone who reads this book will find different characters' stories resonate for them. I was especially moved by the free diver and the widower. I have been raving about this book to just about everyone. I can't wait to pick up a hard copy for my personal collection.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an eARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

The booknerd in me loves book about books, libraries, bookstores, all of it. No Two Persons has a very unique perspective about being the story about a book, Theo, and the various people who come into contact with the book through the years and how Theo impacts their lives. First of all, this is such a beautifully written book. Every word is perfectly selected to have the maximum impact. Second, as a reader, this book really spoke to me. It made me think about books in my life that had a last impression on me. I love the concept that different people glean different things from the same book and it can help people in different ways as each reader brings their own perspective when picking up a book. The various characters are so well developed, interesting and relatable. Books are such a massive part of my life and this book is truly a celebration of the power of words.

Oh my, what a poignant novel. This book really resonated with me and I can’t explain why. Told in ten little vignettes, each character comes across the same book for different reasons, but each is deeply effected. Some were assigned the book, some were gifted the book, but all seem to find an escape route through the book.

I thought the stories of Alice, the Teenager and the Caretaker the most poignant and I couldn’t help but want more.

Some of the stories are intricately woven together so it isn’t just 10 independent stories of characters that have nothing in common or stories that are totally unrelated to each other.

I thought this was just really clever writing. I was hooked from the epigraph and couldn’t put it down. This will be in my top reads of 2023.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martins Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I loved this book SO much and will be recommending it to everyone I know! I went in to this book knowing very little about it -- I saw it on a list of upcoming releases and it had good ratings so I went in pretty clueless.

This book is unconventional -- first we meet Alice, who is writing a book, and then we meet a variety of other characters over a span of years who are impacted by her book in one way or another.

I loved the format of this book and the way it allowed Erica Bauermeister to give us incredibly thorough and quick overviews of everyone's lives. She managed to get me attached to each and every character and I felt very satisfied with each section.

The writing is lovely, and I thought the ending was completely perfect. Lara's chapter is probably my favorite, as a mother of young children I resonated with her so much and the descriptions were so spot on. I also really loved Nola's story, as well as Miranda. But really the entire book was so thoughtful, well written, and I couldn't put it down.

This was my first read by Erica Bauermeister and I am excited to check out her backlist!

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy of this book!

I really enjoyed this collection of stories about one book and the readers that are affected by it. Like all short story collections, there are some entries that are better than others, Overall, t's a beautifully written love letters to books and readers alike.

This is a fabulous story about the power of words and the impact the act of reading something can make on someone's life. The story starts out with the author, Alice, who writes a book titled Theo after experiencing a very painful loss of her brother when she was in her college years. Next, the author switches perspectives between 9 different people as they interact with the book, and how it affects them in various ways. Even though the story switches so many times with characters, it is seamlessly written and so very beautiful. This story will remain in my thoughts for a very long time.

No Two Persons opens with this quote which illustrates the motor for the book:

“’No two persons ever read the same book or saw the same picture.’ -The writings of Madame Swetchine”
Alice Wein has been a reader and a writer since childhood. When tragedy strikes, 25-year-old Alice starts writing her book, Theo in earnest. Theo is a stirring book about a boy who swims in order to escape from his abusive father. As is often the story, every literary agent passes on the project, until her college professor contacts an old friend who has become a powerful New York agent. The agent passes the book on to her assistant who loves it, and the rest is literary history.

No Two Persons is a collection of stories about nine very different people who experience a wide variety of major life changes in response to the book: The agent’s assistant who is experiencing post-partum depression, a homeless high school student who is hiding out in a school garden shed, a 62-year-old widower who goes to take care of an abandoned hotel in a ghost town, the 76-year-old agent who brokered Alice’s book deal whose health is quickly deteriorating, and a bookseller whose scientist girlfriend doesn’t understand the point of reading novels:

“Science heard that fragment of a second and wondered how to make it fit into a whole. Fiction wondered what hearing it felt like.”
Each person’s story is heartfelt, unique, full of self-reflection and completely engaging, and I was riveted from the start.

Erica Bauermeister is a fine, veteran author. I loved her books The School of Essential Ingredients and The Lost Art of Mixing, but I think No Two Persons might be my new favorite. It is, in my estimation, one of the best books of 2023 so far, and I highly recommend it to both men and women who believe in the power of books to transform the reader.

Thanks to #NetGalley for sending me an arc of No Two Persons in exchange for an honest review!

Hardcover 320 pages, Audiobook 8 hours 11 mins.

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister is the story of how one book, one story changes the lives of its readers in different ways. Alice Wein always wanted to be a writer. She had an amazing talent but her stories were safe with little emotion. It isn’t until she suffers a tragic loss that breaks her heart and she pours out her emotions on the page. The debut novel impacts the nine readers from the assistant for a literary agency to the narrator for the audiobook to a widower struggling with life after the loss of his beloved wife. Nine individuals from different careers, walks of life and passions are drawn into the words of the story, discovering an aspect of the story which changes their perspective and opens a new path in their lives. No Two Persons reveals how books affect each reader in beautiful and unexpected ways and connect readers in ways beyond imagination.
As a lover of books since I was a teenager, I understand the life changing power of books. No Two Persons takes the famous quote ““No two persons ever read the same book” (often attributed to writer Edmund Wilson) and celebrates the different ways books can and have deepened the lives of its readers. Some of the readers' stories were more moving and others were impacted more intensely than others. However the results are the same: each reader is never the same after reading Alice’s book. No Two Persons is my second book by Ms. Beauermeister and she hasn’t disappointed to deliver an emotionally moving story. I enjoyed that she highlights how different readers can read a book, get differing viewpoints, thoughts and feelings about the same words that another has read. Truly, no two persons ever read the same book. I would also add that no one reads the same book twice as different readings can give new perspectives. I highly recommend No Two Persons.

No Two Persons will be available May 2, 2023 in hardcover, eBook, and audiobook

It's no secret that I absolutely love books about books. There are days when I read reviews for books I have read and I wonder if we even read the same book because I loved it and they disliked it or vice versa. In the end, I have always believed that space, time, place and where we are in our lives dictate what we may or may not take away from any given story. I nearly always find a nugget or two that resonates with me. This book is about exactly that. The author wrote her story...what spoke to her. Once that story went out into the wild, we hear how the book affected other readers and all in very different unique ways depending on what they needed at that specific time. Was it an earth shattering novel? Who knows. What we do know is that it our author (both real and fictional) wrote something that resonated with very different people for very different reasons. I enjoyed how several (or most) storylines intersected with each other in small ways. This is a must read for anyone who loves books about books as well as someone who may be struggling to see something in their lives as positive when it seems that there is nothing good happening to them.

What an interesting concept and amazing book! The way each person viewed the book differently and how it resonated in their individual lives. Then when realizing how so many intertwined with each other's own story. I couldn't wait to get to the next chapter. I want more and need to know what happened with Theo. Absolutely one of my favorite books of all time. I will be buying the physical copy for my trophy shelf and recommending to everyone. Thank you for the opportunity to read this story.

✌🏼 No Two Persons - Erica Bauermeister

4.5 ⭐️- This is a book for everyone. Books can unite us and spark conversations about differences as well. This book is a book that proves books are subjective and while we all may have a different feeling or insight, books bring us together no matter if we agree or disagree.

Alice has always been a writer. When a devastating event breaks her heart, she turns her words into a debut novel. Her words find their way to an array of different readers - a homeless teen, an artist, a diver, a bookseller, a widower. Each person is drawn to the novel and teaches them each a difference lesson and alters their perspective on the path of their life.

This book was magical in its own cool and unique way! With an interesting concept of basically a book of short stories that have an overlapping connection, this book has something for everyone to connect with. It was so interesting to see how each person connected and felt about the same book… kinda like bookstagram? We often see so many reviews for books we love but how about the ones we don’t like and others do? Or vise versa? It was so interesting to see this effect in book form. I definitely recommend this one for something a little different than still makes you laugh, cry, love, and learn. The audiobook has a full cast so I definitely recommend!

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin Press for the ARC!

Not everyone reads the same story. That is the thought I have a lot of times when reading reviews, and this book follows this statement perfectly. One book, nine different people, and ten lives forever changed. Each person in this books gets their own little chapter. It starts with the writer, whose book then goes to the assistant, then actor, and so on. Each person has a different connection to the writers story and it’s amazing to see it bring so many lives together. I loved this book so much I finished it in a day.

Thank you St. Martin’s Press for the gifted copy provided by NetGalley. The book is officially released on May 2.

One of my favorite things as a reader is how we as readers can each partake in the same book and each walk away with vastly different experiences and perspectives after reading said book. No Two Persons takes this theme and runs with it.

I loved how original this premise was... it was refreshing! I found this to be a unique, heartfelt, and emotional read. It's definitely a book that made me feel, which I always love, and I will be carrying those emotions around for quite some time.

In No Two Persons, each chapter is a separate story. While that did keep it interesting and I found myself looking forward to each new chapter, I did struggle just a tad bit. Since we as readers follow these characters for a shorter duration, I felt like some of the depth and character development was sacrificed.

All in all, however, I really enjoyed this book. I'm excited to see what Erica Bauermeister comes out with next...I'll certainly want to read it!