Meet Roger a divorced middle-aged aisles associate at a Staples outlet condemned to restocking reams of paper for the rest of his life and his co-worker Bethany whos at the end of her Goth phase and realising shes facing fifty more years of shelving Post-it notes and replenishing the Crayola boutique in Aisle Six. One day Bethany discovers Rogers notebook in the staff room. When she opens it up she discovers that this old guy who shes never considered to be quite human is writing mock diary entries pretending to be her - and weirdly hes getting it right. She learns he has a tragedy in his past and suddenly he no longer seems like a paper-stocking robot in a red shirt and a name tag. These two retail workers then strike up an unlikely yet touching secret correspondence. As their lives unfold so too do the characters of Rogers work-in-progress the oddly titled Glove Pond a Cheever-era novella gone horribly horribly wrong. On every page of this wise witty and unforgettable novel Coupland reminds us that love death and eternal friendship can all occur where and when we least expect them and that even after tragedy has hit one can still find solace in the comedy and strange comforts of modern life.