No Two Persons

No Two Persons is the third novel by best-selling American author, Erica Bauermeister. A reductionist review might say: debut author writes a book that affects different readers differently; for a little more detail, read on… Since she was nine years old, Alice Wein has wanted to be an author. A watchful child, her eye for detail, be it her surroundings, the people she encounters, their dialogue, their body language, their behaviour and reactions, all set her up for writing the stories she wants to tell. But her kindly college professor explains what is missing, and it takes an unwanted occurrence close to home to rectify that. The story told from within, her debut novel at twenty-five, is Theo.

Personal assistant to literary agent Madeline Armstrong, Lara is doing a job she loves, hoping to happen upon the right manuscript, "the one", when an unplanned pregnancy relegates her to working from home, reading manuscripts from the slush pile while trying to soothe the screaming son with whom she is having some difficulty bonding. It's Theo, the story about the blond boy, the one she instantly falls into, the one she can't put down, "the one", that unexpectedly helps her connect.

Rowan's desire to be a serious actor is sabotaged by his golden boy looks and his sporting prowess: he seems doomed to be typecast in action-drama roles. Then that same body conspires to make those roles impossible, but also rules out other on-screen roles. He reacts to negative publicity by retreating to an island. His caring and concerned older sister drops an idea which has him pursuing a tangential career, one that eventually sees the ARC of Theo arriving in his mailbox. This, he quickly understands, is his serious role.

On her island, the creating of sea-glass jewellery has lost its thrall for Miranda, but nothing else stirs her. She knows her "be your best self" mother is sceptical of her artistic talent, and her calls and gifts just irritate. The book that arrives has the opposite effect to what her mother might have hoped: the first line so angers Miranda, she takes her machete to the blackberry bushes in her garden. What is exposed becomes the unexpected inspiration she seeks, and the final product surprisingly incorporates the pages of Theo.

Even as a toddler, Tyler wants to be in the water, or under the water, to be exact; it's impossible to keep him out; the family's move to a hot, dry inland town fails to dampen that visceral longing for submersion. Teenaged Tyler substitutes alcohol, until he's permitted into the town pool where he learns to control his breathing. When he escapes at eighteen, it's to free-diving competitions. With travelling nurse, Saylor, he connects, but can't commit: diving is his first love. Until he pushes himself too far, into a serious injury. Saylor tries to help him heal, but it's the book her sister Lara sent, Theo, that breaks through his wall, resonating so strongly with his own youth, perhaps explaining his compulsion.

Nola only needs to last until June, when she graduates, and she has it down to a fine art, filling up on school lunches, spending the after-school hours in the warmth of the library, then settling into a corner of the garden shed of her exclusive school with her sleeping bag. She's a scholarship student, but discovery would mean another stint of foster care, something she has experiences when her father died and her mother couldn't cope. "Her anger a precious bonfire, keeping her warm." Not until an English class discussion of Theo, the text set by her teacher, does she understand her mother's experience. Eventually, Nola understands that someone knows, and she fears expulsion. That's not what happens.

The book has been out four years, and when Alice Wein comes into the bookstore, Kit decides he really should read it. But he is distracted by the thought of his new girlfriend, Annalise, a precise, organised scientist working on the leap second. By the next time Alice comes in, Annalise has been to dinner at his family's home, and endures rather than enjoys this challenging experience: their wedding plans are progressing well. But then Kit does lose himself inside Theo, and understands the fundamental flaw in their relationship.

Newly widowed civil engineer, William heads out to a ghost town in Northeastern California to act as caretaker until the tech billionaire who owns it acts on his plans. He's dismayed by the extent of the dilapidation but will cope: escaping from reminders of Abigail is the intention. While William preferrs non-fiction, she and their daughter Clara loved to connect over novels: "…historians care more about the rocks than the river… Where do novels fit in? They're the boats, of course. The river never stops" He grieves that he will never share anything new with Abigail. When he suddenly finds himself in danger, reading the copy of Theo that Clara put in his trunk unexpectedly gives him more of Abigail and a reason to save himself.

Once a teacher of fencing, Juliet is now an intimacy coordinator for movies. When she's stuck on a twelve-hour flight home without the file she needs, she resorts to an audiobook she was given much earlier. She recognises the voice as an actor she taught to fence, but is soon completely immersed in Theo's story; it pushes her to examine the intimacy of her own relationship.

Legendary literary agent, Madeline Armstrong has just received an adverse diagnosis, and engages someone to sort out the four floors of books in her house. Many memories are unearthed, including the discovery of Alice Wein's only book so far.

Bauermeister gives her reader characters with depth and appeal, who have some insightful observations: "People didn't see reality because they didn't want to, not because it wasn't there" and "… anger was a propulsive form of energy; that's what made it so attractive. It was easier to use it to blast off, fly away, rather than stay and pick up the necessary weight of another's point of view" and "…wasn't that what marriages were, in the end? The ability to hear love in an exhalation, to see frustration in the twitch of a finger, forgiveness in a single letter of the alphabet" are examples.

As expected, Alice Wein's book appears in each of the stories that follow hers, but often, characters from one story may appear in several others, as secondary characters or cameos or simply vague mentions, so that the later stories and the epilogue provide some bonus resolution for the earlier ones. Bauermeister includes some delightful little ironies, touches, hints and echoes. Only the hardest of hearts won't need the tissues for at least one of these stories. These ten wonderfully-told related tales are enclosed within a striking cover. A must read for booklovers.