When John Eccleston's dad went into care, his childhood home in the Lancashire countryside, Garlick House, was cleared. The contents were shabby; most of them seemed destined for charity shops or the tip. But John, for whom change had come too suddenly, decided to save as much as possible, as if his childhood itself would be lost if he did not. He brought a vanload of things down to his already crowded studio flat in London.

Years have passed, John still looks after most of the old treasures that he rescued, though his wife and son aren't especially interested in them. What do these old things mean to him now? Can he recapture his childhood and the history of his family in these familiar objects and in the stories that they bring back to him? And even if he can, are the things themselves, in the end, just clutter?

In this book, written as a guide to his possessions, for the benefit of his teenage son (who will inherit the lot one day), John examines a hundred and one old things. Piece by piece, he recreates a rural childhood.