House Lessons

Praise

Named a “Best Book of 2020” by Real Simple

Washington State Book Award Finalist

Pacific Northwest Booksellers Association Bestseller

“One part investigation of architecture and design, one part exploration of identity, House Lessons is a meditation on space and home, and Bauermeister is a Zen master of the self.”
—Adrienne Brodeur, author of Wild Game

“Almost anyone who’s ever let heart rule head will nod, at the very least, at the stories that a 100-year-old house in Port Townsend, Washington, evokes. In her memoir of falling in love with a house, novelist Bauermeister details every cranny, cove, and piece of plaster…This will resonate with any readers who love words and old houses.”
—Booklist, starred review

“…a family memoir, a primer of architectural theories and a study of how people relate to their spaces. Fans of [Bauermeister’s] four novels know [she] has a keen appreciation of the senses—savoring food in The School of Essential Ingredients, the art of fragrance in The Scent Keeper. She demonstrates that same respect for the renovation.”
—Shelf Awareness

“Erica Bauermeister’s latest book is a thoughtful, entertaining memoir of the time she and her family spent renovating the mother of all fixer-uppers…Bauermeister has given us a skeleton key to unlock ideas about self and space and place…” 
—Christian Science Monitor

“This beautifully written memoir is for anyone who has wondered where home is and how to find it, fix it, love it, and leave it for later as well. We are lucky to be along for the ride.”
—Laurie Frankel, New York Times bestselling author of This Is How It Always Is

“This deeply moving story of an epic home renovation pulls essential life lessons from the logistics of plaster removal and pipe fitting and moves effortlessly across time and topic to find moments of reflection, optimism, and love in the most unlikely of places.”
—Tara Conklin, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Romantics and The House Girl
 
“Intimate and gracefully told, here is the irresistible story of a house and a family in transmutation.”
—Rikki Ducornet, author of The Deep Zoo
 
“Reading House Lessons is itself like walking through a beloved old home, where strange treasures and beautiful eccentricities reveal themselves around every corner. Generous and artful, this is a hard-won story of the work that goes into building a life.” 
—Molly Wizenberg, bestselling author of A Homemade Life