From the exceptionally original mind of CWA Gold Dagger Award winner and Booker longlisted author Belinda Bauer comes this sweeping tale of obsession, greed, ambition, and a crime that has remained unsolved for a hundred years.

How do you find something that doesn’t exist?

1926. On the cliffs of Yorkshire, men are lowered on ropes to steal the eggs of the sea birds who nest there. The most beautiful are sold for large sums. A small girl—penniless and neglected by her family—retrieves one such treasure. Its discovery will forever alter the course of her life.

A century later. In a remote cottage in Wales, Patrick Fort finds his friend, Nick, and his mother tied up and robbed. The only thing missing: a carved case containing an incredible scarlet egg. Doggedly attempting to retrieve it, Patrick and Nick discover the cruel world of egg trafficking, and soon find themselves on the trail of a priceless collection of eggs lost to history. Until now.

A taut, wonderfully imagined novel brimming with skullduggery at every turn, The Impossible Thing is a blazing testament to Belinda Bauer’s status as one of our greatest living crime writers.

Review:

Suspenseful, simmering, and humorous!

The Impossible Thing is a crafty, twisty tale set in Yorkshire during the early 1920s, as well as present-day Wales, that takes you into the lives of two main characters. Celie, a young girl from an impoverished family who, due to her size, ends up retrieving one rare guillemot egg each year for thirty years for a wealthy collector, and Patrick Fort, a man with special talents who, after “Weird Nick” his friend and neighbour is burglarized, offers to help hunt down and retrieve the fancy wooden box containing a red egg that surprisingly was the only thing stolen.

The prose is descriptive and light. The characters are quirky, charming, and determined. And the plot, using a past/present, back-and-forth style, is a captivating tale full of red herrings, amateur sleuthing, dangerous endeavours, deduction, secrets, deception, and the fascinating world of oology.

Overall, The Impossible Thing is another creative, amusing, beautifully written tale by Bauer that was not only entertaining and nostalgic but also thoroughly enjoyable and interesting.

This novel is available now.

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