It was a light and joyous read. The story gives you hope, that even when you are at your lowest point there is always hope and people/things that are there to lend you a helping hand. Jen, NSW, 4 Stars

The start of this held me nicely. Isaac is stood on the bridge and considering suicide. Within that he remembers nothing, he screams and then hears a scream that is not his coming from the forest alongside the river. Despite the state he is in - and the engine is still running on his car at the end of the bridge - he heads into the forest to find the source of the scream. There he finds Egg. Isaac is a widower and he’s struggling. On a visit to the woods, he happens across a very large egg and without a second thought he takes it home and settles into a bizarre domesticity with the egg. When we meet Isaac he’s not in a good place: he’s intoxicated, dishevelled, and thinking about throwing himself off a bridge. He’s reached the absolute bottom until he hears an unnatural, pained scream that pulls him out of his own pain. The scream, he discovers, has come from an egg which ‘sits resplendent in the middle of a clearing, bathed in a heavenly light which seems to defy the darkness of the night before’. This is an out-and-out character-oriented novel. Such stories are tougher to carry out successfully, but the author does a splendid job.This is the story of Isaac and the Egg, a grieving young man and his unforgettable new friend, who meet at exactly the right time. Heartbreaking and heart-stealing, this bestselling modern-day fable is an unforgettable novel about sorrow, joy, friendship and love. Isaac Addy is in een diep, donker dal beland, een dal waarin geen licht lijkt te kunnen doordringen. Sinds de dood van zijn grote liefde lijkt alles leeg en uitzichtloos en hij probeert zichzelf te verdoven om maar niets te hoeven voelen, hij heeft vrijwel iedereen van zich afgeduwd, verwaarloost zichzelf, is erg depressief en weet niet of hij nog wil leven. Op een dag staat hij op een brug, hij twijfelt of hij moet springen en hij schreeuwt… en dan schreeuwt er iets terug. I read it in one breath… true and tragic and funny and hopeful and big – big enough somehow to contain all of our stories and all of our lives inside it’ JOANNA GLEN

Story Synopsis: (Don’t want to reveal much, so just giving the barest of outlines. But the story is a lot more than this.)

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I was worried that the ending would shatter me. But it is heartwarming and hopeful, and more importantly, proceeds logically from the story. Isaac Addy is a man bereft, not just of his wife Mary, who has died, but of his selfhood. A scatty children’s book illustrator who had “always thought his biggest fear was people not liking him”, he is now aimless, bedraggled and literally about to jump off a bridge into the abyss when he hears a scream that leads him to a creature that looks startlingly like an egg and, “for the first time in weeks, feels an emotion that isn’t despair”. But if that doesn’t happen, and let’s face it, it almost never does; that kind of approach to grief is all about people finding a way they can live with someone else’s grief which is never palatable to be around because it reminds us, and we hate this, that death happens.

This book was completely bizarre in the best way. At first I was extremely sceptical, I thought the events in here were a tad silly but I really warned to the odd nature of it.There were several times in here that I actually laughed out loud. It was extremely well written and I had no idea where it was going, but the journey was completely worth it. When you get to the end of the book and things start unfolding so you get the full picture of what happened, I was utterly amazed. It was so well done and hit me right in the heart. Original, quirky, utterly compelling. These are the words that I would use to describe this book. However don’t be fooled thinking this is just a story about a cute little egg. While it is funny in places this is a book about grief, Isaac is in a bad place and his feelings are raw.Many books leave their mark; how can they not? You journey with characters through events big and small, all the time privy to their hopes, dreams, fears and loss, and come out the other side with a resolution good or bad that re-defines life for that character forever after. Isaac Addy might be an alien. He certainly feels like one. Apart from Joy’s flying visit and his sessions with Dr Abbass, he’s barely interacted with anyone of his own kind in months. He looks like one, too. What did Isaac Addy look like last year, before he zapped all his human friends away? Not like this. This, whatever this is, is as alien as can be. His stalagmite hair and stalactite beard make him seem like he’s from a world where the inhabitants are made of stone. His eyes used to sparkle, but now they shine only as much as two polished pebbles one would find on a beach. Isaac has hardened, calcified.” (P. 165) This is a book about a lot of things – grief, hope, friendship, love. It’s also about what you’d do if you stumbled into the woods at dawn, found something extraordinary there, and decided to take it home. One of the most enduring images from Jurassic Park is of the baby velociraptor first breaking out of its shell. Later, those same velociraptors will be the scariest thing about the film – but for now, they’re something small, adorable, and in need of protection. An arresting debut novel about grief, but in the most wonderfully oblique way’ REVEREND RICHARD COLES

I wanted to sit and talk about this wonderful creation while I was absorbing it, because that's what it does, Bobby Palmers narrative will seep into your very pores. You will want to share every last paragraph of this multilayered triumph, while at the same time wanting to stay quiet, to understand what others make of it, wonder whether you share the same thoughts. My advice is to read it with people, many people, experience it with company. Moving and clever... Although it starts with a death and darkness, it's a story of hope and embracing newness' JUSTIN MYERS, THE GUYLINER BOBBY PALMER is an author and journalist whose writing has appeared in GQ, Esquire, Men's Health, Cosmopolitan and more. He is co-host of the literary podcast BOOK CHAT with Pandora Sykes. Isaacs rouwproces wordt indringend en levensecht beschreven, je wordt helemaal meegenomen in zijn ellende en zijn gevoelens zijn confronterend, realistisch en intens. Wanneer de radeloosheid alles over lijkt te nemen ontmoet hij Egg, en deze onvoorwaardelijke vriend is alles wat Isaac op dat moment nodig had. De exacte rol van Egg blijft lastig te duiden, maar of hij nu een wezentje is, een hallucinatie, een metafoor voor het rouwproces of een soort gids die Isaac telkens een extra stapje laat zetten, je moet je uiteindelijk maar gewoon aan zijn bestaan overgeven en zijn rol in dit verhaal accepteren. En hoewel de fantasie voor mij op sommige momenten net te veel botste met de aangrijpende gebeurtenissen, waardoor het geheel dan iets té absurd werd, zorgt Egg ook voor ontwikkeling, een zekere luchtigheid en humor en sluit je hem alleen daarom al in je hart. Like the humble egg, we humans are fragile. We’re filled with contradictions, and we’re always bound to break. But perhaps, like Isaac and his egg, each one of us is also filled with endless possibilities – just waiting to hatch.The two are unlikely companions. But their chance encounter will transform Isaac’s life in ways he cannot yet imagine. What a remarkable story. It is one that will stay with me for quite a while. Isaac Addey is grieving. He is lost and hopeless. We meet him on the worst day of his life when he stumbles across Egg in the woods and decides to take him home. The story follows Isaac’s journey through the stages of grief with Egg by his side, trying to make sense of his companion. It is at times heartbreaking and difficult, but always compelling. It is a story with a big heart. Melissa, QLD, 5 Stars Dit is een emotioneel, krachtig, kwetsbaar, verfrissend, verrassend en uniek verhaal over liefde, vriendschap, rouw, mentale gezondheid, geheimen, verbinding, hoop en de kleine dingen die het leven zo waardevol maken. Zodra het verhaal je grijpt laat het je niet meer los, het bezorgt je kippenvel, laat je glimlachen en is zeker het lezen waard!