The Renovation follows Dilara, a Turkish woman living in self-imposed political exile in a quiet coastal village in Salerno, Italy. Unable to find employment in her field, she has dedicated herself to the care of her aging father, who is suffering from advanced dementia, and at the start of the book is in the process of installing a second bathroom in her apartment to accommodate his needs. After weeks of secretive construction hidden behind tarpaulins, the contractors pack up and leave. Instead of the modern en-suite bathroom Dilara was expecting to return home to, she finds instead a fully functioning, replica Turkish prison cell.

Switzy focuses on the final journey of David, a retired high-flying business executive. Suffering from dementia and dependent on the help of his young assistant Cody, he has made one final decision which will take him to a clinic in Zurich, Switzerland. Along the way, via flights on a borrowed private jet, he will visit his estranged daughter and her nine-year-old son in London, and meet an old friend in France near the Swiss border. His mind deteriorating, he reflects on his life in fragments (repeated phrases from childhood books, films and lessons pepper his present-day thoughts) and distracts his mind with repeated games of solitaire on his phone.