Bursting with vitality and variety, it's a tour de force . . . fizzes with the qualities ? characters who almost leap off the page with authenticity, speech and body language wonderfully caught ? that, for more than half a century, have won her such admiration and affection -- Peter Kemp ? Sunday Times

As always, Tyler is a magician, able to conjure up, in a handful of sentences, such endlessly complicated things as the comical messiness of family life . . . You finish her novels feeling closer to life, and closer to other people -- Craig Brown ? Mail on Sunday

Almost unbearably poignant . . . a moving and perceptive story about one man?s inability to connect with others and his gradual move towards greater self-fulfilment -- Charlotte Heathcote ? Sunday Express

Anne Tyler has the ability to take the minutiae of characters? lives and say wise things about the human condition that other writers can only dream of ? Stylist

Tyler has every gift a great novelist needs: intent observation, empathy and language both direct and surprising. She has unembarrassed goodness as well. In this time of snark, preening, sub-tweeting and the showy torment of characters, we could use more Tyler -- Amy Bloom ? New York Times

He measures out his days running errands for work - his TECH HERMIT sign cheerily displayed on the roof of his car - maintaining an impeccable cleaning regime and going for runs (7:15, every morning).