A patchwork planet

Barnaby Gaitlin has spent his adult life drifting from one failure to the next, and his misadventures have left him with plenty of character and very little to show for it. He now works for Rent-a-Back, a service that sends men to do odd jobs for elderly clients.

The work puts him in the homes of aging, colorful people, each with burdens and quirks of their own. Their company gives the book its texture: it moves through short, funny scenes rather than a single driving plot.

Away from the job, Barnaby deals with a family he is estranged from and a tangled connection to his ex-wife. A new romance begins with Sophia, who works at a bank.

Comedy runs alongside a quieter sadness about regret and time passing. The question underneath is whether a life that has gone so far off course still has room for small moments of grace.