Barnes's latest prose The Planes of Life brings together - as is his custom - "what no one has ever brought together" to create another of his meditations on the theme of death after No Reason to Fear and Consciousness of the End. In the author's latest book, the theme of photography and ballooning and the love story of one of the first aeronauts, Fred Burnaby, and the famous French actress Sarah Bernhart are combined with very personal reflections on the loss of a loved one.