Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Barnaby Gaitlin has been in trouble ever since adolescence. He had this habit of breaking into other people's houses. It wasn't the big loot he was after, like his teenage cohorts. It was just that he liked to read other people's mail, pore over their family photo albums, and appropriate a few of their precious mementos.
But for eleven years now, he's been working steadily for Rent-a-Back, renting his back to old folks and shut-ins who can't move their own porch furniture or bring the Christmas tree down from the attic. At last, his life seems to be on an even keel.
Still, the Gaitlins (of "old" Baltimore) cannot forget the price they paid for buying off Barnaby's former victims. And his ex-wife would just as soon he didn't show up ever to visit their little girl, Opal. Even the nice, steady woman (his guardian angel?) who seems to have designs on him doesn't fully trust him, it develops, when the chips are down, and it looks as though his world may fall apart again.
Check nearby libraries
Buy this book
![Loading indicator](/images/ajax-loader-bar.gif)
Previews available in: English
Subjects
Fiction, Literature, Fiction, general, Conduct of life, Men, Charities, Social life and customs, Domestic fiction, American Domestic fiction, Romance, Psychology, Identity (Psychology), 18.06 Anglo-American literature, Baltimore (md.), fiction, Maryland, fictionPlaces
Baltimore (Md.), Maryland, Baltimore, United StatesShowing 7 featured editions. View all 30 editions?
Edition | Availability |
---|---|
1
A patchwork planet: Ladder of years ; Saint Maybe : three complete novels
2001, Bright Sky Press, Distributed by Sterling Pub. Co.
in English
0970472994 9780970472991
|
cccc
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
2 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
3 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
4 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
5 |
aaaa
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
6 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
7 |
eeee
Libraries near you:
WorldCat
|
Book Details
Edition Notes
Classifications
The Physical Object
ID Numbers
Source records
Scriblio MARC recordCollingswood Public Library record
Ithaca College Library MARC record
Internet Archive item record
marc_openlibraries_phillipsacademy MARC record
Library of Congress MARC record
Internet Archive item record
Promise Item
marc_columbia MARC record
Work Description
One of five Anne Tyler novels reissued in stunning new jacketsBarnaby Gaitlin is a loser - just short of thirty he's the black sheep of a philanthropic Baltimore family. Once upon a time he had a home, a loving wife, a little family of his own; now he has an ex-wife, a 9-year old daughter with attitude, a Corvette Sting Ray that's a collector's item but unreliable, and he works as hired muscle for Rent -a-Back, doing heavy chores for old folks. He has an almost patholo-gical curiosity about other people's lives, which has got him into serious trouble in the past, and a hopeless charm which attracts the kind of angelic woman who wants to save him from himself. Tyler's observation is more acute, more delicious than ever; her humour slyer and more irresistible; her characters so vividly realised that you feel you've known this quirky collection for ever. With perfect pitch and poise, humour and humanity, Anne Tyler chronicles, better than any writer today, the sublime and the ridiculous of everyday living, the foibles and frailties of the ordinary human heart.
Excerpts
Community Reviews (0)
Feedback?November 28, 2022 | Edited by OnFrATa | Merge works (MRID: 29741) |
November 27, 2022 | Edited by dcapillae | merge authors |
November 26, 2022 | Edited by wjhollerich | title, subjects (removed "large type books" from work record) |
November 26, 2022 | Edited by OnFrATa | Merge works (MRID: 29383) |
October 13, 2009 | Created by WorkBot | create work page |