The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock, book review

Charity shop clothes and deer blood - the smell of teen spirit

Young-adult fiction is, as we know, filled with teenagers moored in broken families, struggling to break free from their chrysalises and reach butterfly heights. But in this accomplished debut novel, Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock distinguishes herself by playing out her coming-of-age tale against a backdrop of Alaska in the 1970s, also coming of age after being given statehood in 1959.

The Smell of Other People's Houses alternates first-person narratives of four teens: Ruth who lives with her strict grandmother and younger sister; Dora who is bedding down at a friend's house to avoid her own parents; Alyce struggling to escape the confines of the town; and Hank, running away from the darkness with his two younger brothers.

The layers of their four lives intertwine and weave together like grass straws in a basket, with cleverly dropped clues of their connections from the outset. A huge array of characters cluster in this slim novel, but it is the location that dominates.

The Alaskan landscape looms large; the structure of the book is divided into the four seasons with their wildly different weather, there is an abundance of fishing scenes, and descriptions of a terrain still bound by the laws of nature rather than built up by man. Smells are key to the story – from the transformative smell that a mum can bring to a house, to the visceral smell of deer blood, the pungent odour of caught fish on the Yukon, to the scents of other people's belongings in a charity shop.

The book is heart-wrenching and poignant in parts, as the teens deal with the hardships of living an impoverished life in a tough environment. All the characters display a grit and fortitude in the face of much grief.

What Hitchcock loses by only skimming the surface of the larger issues in the book, such as teen pregnancy and domestic abuse, she makes up for with her lyrical prose, capturing characteristics with an adept turn of phrase. Her training as a journalist powers through the novel; the observations are succinct and potent: "She smiles as if the memory is a peppermint stick and she's licking it, slowly savouring every bit."

Hitchcock whips through the plot, but the writer's talent lies in the captivating voices of the teens. They are searingly sincere, with a self-deprecating wit, and an overall display of tenderness towards each other, despite having to reach through their erected barriers and overcome their own pain.

This book reaches through the mêlée of voices in YA; its smell, or scent, fresh and alluring.

Faber £7.99. Order for £7.49 (free p&p) from the Independent Bookshop: 08430 600 030