John McPhee’s The Patch is just that: patches of work across a writer’s lifetime that come together to form a quilt of essays, reflections and reminiscences.Ranging across a variety of genres and styles, subjects and moods, his patches are collected from writings that have not previously appeared in any book. This collection is divided into Part I ‘The Sporting Scene’ and Part II ‘An Album Quilt’. It includes vignettes of his childhood hunting golf balls in the woods, the career and choices of a famous lacrosse coach, Joan Baez’s journey into a musical career, his daughter’s response to a high-school vocabulary test and his travels across the United States. John McPhee’s singular style keeps each patch fitting comfortably with the next; each text falls seamlessly within the rhyme and rhythm of a larger work. Fit to be consumed all at once, or savoured piecemeal, The Patch gives a full taste of his impeccable power over language.