How does a man addicted to routine cope with the chaos of everyday life? Macon does his best, writing Armchair Tourist guidebooks that soothe the travel-hating businessman. Even when his son, Ethan, is murdered and his wife leaves him, Macon folds his anguish neatly back into place and adapts the household routine along more efficient lines.

So when he meets Muriel, dog trainer from the Meow-Bow dog clinic - an utterly chaotic, outrageous, vulnerable woman - he considers that his defences against love and pain are in excellent working order.

Combining glorious comedy with aching sadness, Anne Tyler's novel maps the landscape of one man's hesitant heart with tenderness, sharpness and exhilarating truth.