Isaac and the Egg: the unique, funny and heartbreaking Saturday Times bestseller

Product Information

An utter sparkler of a novel… highly imaginative, extremely funny and profoundly empathetic’ S UNDAY INDEPENDENT One of the reasons I like reading debuts is the marvel of the discovery of a new author who makes magic with words. The characterisation is superb, Isaac is grieving, his pain is raw and acute and he doesn’t know which way is up. He’s lonely, suffering, full of anger and his misery is palpable. As for the egg, you’ll have to encounter the wonder and sheer pleasure of that for yourself! 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 Despite the terrible sadness of Isaac’s situation, the author somehow also manages to make the book laugh-out-loud funny in places. As the story progresses we learn more about the circumstances that have brought Isaac to this point and the pieces of the puzzle gradually fall into place.

Maybe it’s because Isaacs life is (understandably) so dull and boring (despite living with a fluffy egg alien) that it just didn’t captivate me. I found myself getting quite board half way through and really struggled to get through it. One of the most eagerly awaited books of the year . . . an incredibly moving and at times heartbreaking – and sometimes funny – book’ HELLO!Is it an alien or is it a figment of Isaac’s broken mind? Whatever it is Isaac decides to take it home where it behaves like an unruly toddler. And something magical begins to happen…. Bobby's second novel, SMALL HOURS, will publish in March 2024. 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.

I had no idea what to expect from this book, I went into it completely blind not knowing anything about it - and to be honest that was perfect. I don’t think anyone could have described this book to me anyway, if I had to tell you what this book was about I’d be lost for words. If an egg falls in the woods, will it kill Isaac Addy? If Isaac Addy dies in the woods, will his misery die with him?’ This is such an unusual, emotional and beautiful story, and quite a difficult one to describe, as it not like anything I’ve read before. It is told from the perspective of Isaac, a man whose life has unravelled following the death of his wife Mary. He doesn’t want to grieve, because to do so would be to accept her loss. So he spends his days not thinking, watching familiar films and avoiding the outside world, including the family and friends who want to help him.

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.