House

Tracy Kidder follows one family through the making of their first home, from the initial drawings to the day they move in. Each stage brings its own setbacks, arguments, and emergencies, and Kidder shows how every phase of the work puts the people involved to the test.

The book lingers on small, ordinary tasks. Building a staircase or painting a room becomes a story about clashing opinions, the bonds and burdens within a working relationship, and the satisfaction of skilled labor. Along the way Kidder draws attention to everyday materials and details that most people never think about.

The people at the center of the book are vividly drawn, and their personalities shape the narrative as much as the construction does. Kidder, a Pulitzer Prize winner whose earlier work includes The Soul of a New Machine, brings the same close attention to this account, which will appeal to readers curious about how houses are built and about the human side of the process.