How do I review a book that is simultaneously heartrendingly sad AND hilariously funny?

Twenty-nine year old Isaac Addy is unmoored, adrift, and suicidal. His beloved wife, Mary, has died. He cannot fathom a life without her in it. Just after an aborted suicide attempt, he finds a huge egg in the forest. Fanciful? well yes. Isaac takes this ‘egg’ home and lives with it as he seeks to cope with his debilitating grief.“For Isaac, losing Mary might as well have been losing everyone. And though he’d never say this to anyone, he’d rather lose everyone else if it meant not losing her.”

Isaac and Mary were two halves of the same whole. He was an illustrator, she wrote children’s books. They worked together fabulously, complimenting each other in myriad ways.

Now, with Mary gone, he cannot move forward. His sister, Joy, worries about him. He no longer goes out or sees his friends. He stays at home, unwashed, unshaven… he hardly eats anything other than beans on toast. He goes away for extended periods of time. He has blackouts and panic attacks. However, the egg keeps him company. Oh… and there is a mysterious room at the top of the stairs. A room which Isaac never enters.

Egg is a two foot tall, ovoid shaped creature with white fur, huge black eyes, and ultra long hairy arms. He eats just about everything and he never goes to the bathroom. Isaac and Egg are buddies. After reading this novel, I have to assume that Egg IS Isaac. A product of his illustrator’s vivid imagination – company for Isaac while he grieves for his late wife. A coping mechanism if you will. It seems no coincidence that Egg could be Isaac’s own fragile shell. A shell that keeps all his anguish and heartache encapsulated. When Egg is gone, then Isaac’s shell will be gone. He’ll then have to engage with the world again, move on with his life without Mary.

The writing will keep you mesmerized. Though your brain tells you that Egg cannot really exist, the author has made him so lifelike, so cute and lovable, that he IS a real character. Some of the scenes featuring Egg are hilarious in a slapstick kind of way.

Quirky, imaginative, poignant, and very unique, this book is one you’ll remember with fondness. A stellar and original debut novel. A bizarre black comedy. As Egg would say,

“Wawooo!”This review was written voluntarily and my rating was in no way influenced by the fact that I received a complimentary digital copy of this novel via Anne Cater and Random Things Tours  from the publisher: Headline Book/Hachette UK

Published: April 13, 2023
ISBN: 9781472285515 — 288 pagesPurchase Links

Bobby Palmer is a freelance journalist who writes for publications including Time Out, GQ,
Men’s Health and Cosmopolitan. He is married and lives in East Sussex, England.

Isaac and the Egg is his debut novel.

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