Useful

Useful is a social-psychological novel about the hidden role of usefulness in human relationships. Through the life of David Miller—from childhood, love and marriage to career, fatherhood, faith, loss and old age—the novel explores a disturbing question: do people love us for who we are, or for what we provide? As David watches jobs disappear, children become independent and the people he loves grow old and die, he slowly discovers that usefulness may be one of the ways love expresses itself—but it is not the measure of a human being's worth. Useful is a deeply human story about love, dependence, family, work, faith and the fear of no longer being needed.