The Smell of Other People’s Houses

Set in Alaska during the 1970s, this novel is told through four voices whose stories connect with one another. The teenagers’ lives include secrets, dreams, danger, hardship, tragedy, unexpected luck, love, and salvation. Their accounts portray an Alaska presented as unlike anywhere else, where life is not easy and people are not encouraged to speak openly about themselves. As the separate narrators’ experiences intersect, the book traces intertwined lives shaped by difficult circumstances and hope.