Patchwork Planet

Barnaby Gaitlin has less in life than he once had. His ex-wife Natalie left him and their native Baltimore several years ago, taking their baby daughter Opal with her. He acquired an unalterably fixed position as the black sheep of the family.

And this family isn't one where black sheep are tolerated. The Gaitlins are rich and worthy, supposedly guided by their own special angel to do the right thing... n n OVER A MILLION ANNE TYLER BOOKS SOLD n n `She's changed my perception on life' Anna Chancellor n n `One of my favourite authors ' Liane Moriarty n n `She spins gold' Elizabeth Buchan n n `Anne Tyler has no peer' Anita Shreve n n `My favourite writer, and the best line-and-length novelist in the world' Nick Hornby n n `A masterly author' Sebastian Faulks n n `Tyler is not merely good, she is wickedly good' John Updike n n `I love Anne Tyler' Anita Brookner n n `Her fiction has strength of vision, originality, freshness, unconquerable humour' Eudora Welty n