Four men gather in a London pub. They have taken it upon themselves to carry out the last orders of Jack Dodds master butcher and deliver his ashes to the sea. As they drive towards the fulfillment of their mission their errand becomes an extraordinary journey into their collective and individual pasts. Braiding these men s voices and that of Jack s widow into a choir of sorrow and resentment passion and regret Swift creates a testament to a changing England and to enduring mortality. Swift has involved us in real lived lives...Quietly but with conviction he seeks to affirm the values of decency loyalty love. --New York Review of Books A beautiful book...a novel that speaks profoundly of human need and tenderness. Even the most cynical will be warmed by it. --San Francisco Chronicle