The Impossible Thing is the second book in the Rubbernecker series by award-winning British journalist, screenwriter and author, Belinda Bauer. Immediately post-WW1, making a living on a small-holding farm in Yorkshire isn’t easy; even harder for Enid Sheppard when her husband takes one look at their new baby daughter and abandons the family.

Tiny Celie Sheppard is given to the care of eight-year-old farm boy, Robert, but turns the family’s fortunes, and perhaps their sentiments about her, when at six years old, she shows a talent for climming. In a makeshift harness fashioned by Robert, she returns from under the overhang on the edge of her family’s holding, Metland Farm, with an extremely rare red guillemot egg. Egg Broker George Ambler is beside himself: what won’t a collector pay for such a beauty!

Almost a century on, Patrick Fort has been washing dishes at the Rorke’s Drift for three years and not yet tired of it. Returning home one winters evening, he discovers his friend and neighbour, Weird Nick, and Nick’s mum Jen gagged and bound in their unlit house. Two men in ski masks (it’s not even snowing!) with cable ties to secure the residents of Ty Newydd have ransacked the place. The only thing missing is a red egg in a fancy carved box.

Belatedly, Nick has discovered it’s illegal to sell, or even own, wild bird eggs, but the fleeting listing on Facebook Marketplace was sufficient, it seems, to make their little Welsh cottage a target. Legal or no, he wants the egg back. Patrick’s brilliant deductive work leads them to the probable thief, and Nick ropes in his unwilling friend to confront eggman456.

That doesn’t end well: “Before Nick could open his mouth, the big man grabbed him by the front of his jumper, yanked him forward, headbutted him, then withdrew and slammed the door. It all happened so fast that Patrick was left open-mouthed with amazement, already replaying it in his head. The door, the arm, the fist, the head, the door. It was like a very violent cuckoo clock.”

Before they finally locate the egg, and several more like it, there’s a courtroom scene with lots of shouting, a visit to a museum with thousands of eggs, and a jaw-droppingly vindictive destruction of a felon’s collection.

Patrick has a too-close encounter with dog droppings, is an accidental stowaway in the car of a nasty, violent man, and has to climb through a toilet window. A balaclava and a potato masher play significant roles. At one point, Nick asks where his sense of adventure is: “Patrick didn’t answer. He’d already accidentally had one adventure in his life and it had been very stressful. He didn’t really fancy another.”

Told through multiple narratives and a dual timeline, Bauer gradually reveals the path that the Metland egg takes from 1920’s Yorkshire to modern-day Wales and beyond. She gives the reader some wonderful descriptive prose “…barristers in yellowing wigs and black cloaks flitted between them like giant bats”, and only the hardest hearts won’t have a lump in the throat at the poor guillemot’s ordeal. There’s plenty of action drama which, together with the dialogue, offers some very black humour. Fans can only hope this isn’t the last we’ll see of Patrick Fort. Utterly brilliant.
This unbiased review is from an uncorrected proof copy provided by NetGalley and Grove Atlantic.

A mystery/suspense told in dual timeline structure. Based on the historical phenomenon of collecting bird eggs and featuring a lot of commentary on wealth and greed.

Told in two timelines, this book blends historical fiction and adventure. In the present-day storyline, Patrick and “Weird Nick” set out to solve the mystery of a stolen egg. In the past, we learn about climmers and egg collecting in the 1920s.

I love a book that entertains and teaches me something new. I knew nothing about Guillemot eggs or the history of egg collecting, and I found it fascinating. The earlier timeline takes place before egg collecting was illegal, and the way people risked everything to steal rare eggs from cliffside nests was both interesting and sad.

Bauer's writing is clean and clear, and the story moved at just the right pace.

This is a great pick for anyone who likes layered stories, historical detail, and interesting characters.

The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

Book review - 5*

The book moves back and forth between two timelines throughout the book.

The first timeline centres on the climmers in the 1920s who scale the Bempton cliffs in North Yorkshire to steal eggs, particularly prized guillemot eggs, to sell to brokers who then sell them on to collectors who are always competing against each other to get a better and rarer egg each year.

A neglected and rejected young girl, Celie Sheppard lives at Metland Farm. The climmers do not work the cliffs at the edge of the farm due to a dangerous overhang. However, Celie is small enough to get through a crack to reach under the overhang and persuades her only friend, Robert, the farmland to help her to get to the cliff. She’s not thinking of selling the eggs; she just wants to try to get eggs from the birds for herself so that she can have omelette to eat every day.

However, Celie finds an egg that will change her family’s fortunes.

The story follows the sale of the prized egg and what follows after.

The second timeline brings the reader up to 2023 and introduces Patrick Fort, who is neurodivergent, and his neighbour, Weird Nick. Weird Nick finds an egg in the attic and puts in for sale online to put towards a new gaming chair but before it is sold there is a violent break in at his home and the egg is stolen.

This timeline follows Patrick and Nick as they try to retrieve the egg and try to fathom out why it was stolen in the first place.

Wealth, privilege, and greed are all themes covered in this book.

Who knew that collecting birds’ eggs was such a dangerous and cut-throat business.

I loved reading this book. I thought it was a fascinating subject to cover, and I enjoyed the dual timeline throughout the book and making the connections between events of the past and the present day.

I highly recommend this book.

5 stars.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher, Grove Atlantic for an ARC e-book copy, which I received in return for an honest review.

I expected this to be an intriguing and suspenseful story. Unfortunately, it did not end up capturing my interest. I found the dual timeline narrative to be choppy in its delivery and the beginning of the story to have an overabundance of characters that detracted from my overall enjoyment. The second half of the book was a little better than the first half but had this not been an ARC it might have ended up on my DNF shelf. Though this was the first time that I have read a book by this author, I would still consider reading another work by her. Many other people saw this book differently and enjoyed it more than I did, and I would encourage readers to definitely check out some of their reviews.

My sincere thanks to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic Publishers for the opportunity to read a digital ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

I'm one those persons that never heard of eggshells collection and I was intrigued when I read the book synopsis. The story is interesting as it's told from two different time observations, one from when the shells where collected and how they changed the life of those involved with it, and the other, a century later, when a boy not knowing the importance of the eggshell decides to sell it on ebay and then gets it stolen from his home and sees himself involved in a plot of greed and mild violence. The Rubbernecker - Patrick - is a strong character with a flawless way of thinking and his best (and maybe only friend) Nick is his antithesis, and they make a strong duo, which is sometimes complemented by Meg (a medical student with powerful beliefs on right and wrong). The Impossible Thing is an easy and engaging read.
I thank the author, her publisher, and NetGalley for this ARC.

This is my second book by Belinda Bauer, Blacklands being my first. This was a hybrid read, meaning I read the book while alternating with the audiobook - the reader did a read job bringing this story to life.

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started, a book about eggs. It sounds not that interesting but I was intrigued. What I got was an entertaining and highly educational read about a subject I knew nothing about.

Beginning in 1926 as recently laid eggs are stolen from the nest of migrant birds. I did not realize how sought after these eggs are because of their colour and shell designs. An act that is illegal now and rather barbaric. A tiny hole is made to empty out the shell.

This is a dual time-period story that shows what length people will go to for these treasures. A captivating story about greed, friendship and deceit. It was mysterious, suspenseful and like I said educational. And yes, I did Google it, what a fascinating subject. It gives homage to the learn something new every day saying.

My thanks to Grove Atlantic (for the kindle edition) and Dreamscape Media (for the audiobook) in exchange for a honest review.

What a strange, but interesting story this was. It's a dual timeline about poor little Celie, malnourished and undersized, who is dropped over the side of a cliff in a homemade harness by her brothers to steal colorful eggs from the birds nesting there to be sold to collectors in the 1920s. She was really just interested in eating the eggs! (Why they didn't have chickens on their farm was a mystery to me!) The poor girl had a hard life all the way around.

The present day story features a character from 'The Rubberneckers', an autistic man who likes to solve crimes. His friend is selling off his absent father's possessions from the attic, one of which was a big red egg in a beautiful carved display box. The egg is stolen from him and the game is on.

This story stands alone just fine without needing to read the first book. It was a slow burn for a while as the backstory is fleshed out, and then the pace picked up a bit. I really enjoyed it.

Thanks to Net Galley, the author, and the publisher for an ARC to read and review.

I had no idea what climming was before reading this book. It is collecting eggs from a cliff. Apparently egg collecting was a big thing among the British gentry between the world wars. This story is told on two timelines, one centered around a young girl who is small and brave enough to get the most valuable eggs of the era from the most treacherous cliff, and the other centered around a young boy and his neurodivergent friend, who find one of these eggs in the attic in the present day. Both timelines have their share of twists and turns, lovable heros and heroines and Dickensian villains The connections between the two timelines are finally revealed at the end, and the endings of both timelines will leave you teary-eyed and happy. A very well-constructed romp through this obscure piece of history and unusual.obsession. Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC of this book.

Gosh I loved this book. From the cover, over the characters to the plot. This is egg-cellent.

What I particularly liked were both the timeline of Celie as well as the one of Nick and Patrick. I was crushed for Celie, laughed about Nick and loved observing Patrick.

The plot was so intricately written, filled with small details, pop culture references, trivia and love. The central topic, eggs, was dealt with so beautifully. It was not just depicted as either a good or bad practice. The author showed all sides of the collection of eggs.

I never knew that there are colors and patterns specific to a couple of birds; I didn’t know that it is illegal to sell eggs. But I loved learning it. I loved seeing Patrick open up to Meg and to see Nick be proud of himself.

All in all this is a fantastic book.

Birds eggs collected off the Yorkshire sea cliffs by local men and boys are sold to collectors for a few pounds. None are collected off Metland though as there is an overhang, until one day Celie, the youngest daughter of the impoverished farm has the idea to get through the fissure in the overhang. Here starts the legend that is The Metland Egg, red eggs collected each year and sold to a London broker, only to be never seen again.
The story swings between the 1920s and the present time where one such egg is found and stolen.
A wonderful story of poverty, greed and survival that I devoured.
My thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the arc.

Thank you, Netgalley and Grove Atlantic, for providing me with a review copy of this book. All opinions are my own.

The Impossible Thing is a fictional account of the collection and disappearance of real Metland Eggs, the priceless red Guillemot eggs collected in Yorkshire, England. The novel volleys between the 1920s when the eggs were first collected by an impoverished young girl and sold to collectors for large sums of money. A century later, Patrick Fort is aiding his friend Nick, whose egg was stolen. It was nice to revisit Patrick, the neurodivergent protagonist of <I>Rubbernecker</i>. He's earnest and clever. Once again, I appreciated how well Bauer wrote a character on the autism spectrum. I also enjoyed "Weird Nick" and the 1920s characters Celie and Robert.

The book is also an eye-opening look at the world of egg poaching. Bauer covers this criminal trade from all angles: the people that risk their lives to obtain the eggs as a means of feeding their families, the wealthy collectors, the conservationists, and the birds themselves. The cruelty imposed on these birds is hard to read but important as it is based on real-world practices.

Bauer once again delivers incredible prose. I highly recommend this to readers of historical fiction and crime novels. I hope Bauer brings Patrick Fort back for another mystery soon.

"From the exceptionally original mind of CWA Gold Dagger Award winner and Booker longlisted author Belinda Bauer, a 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."

Reminiscent of The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson.

Whisked Through It

Belinda Bauer has quite a reputation as a crime writer, she has even been longlisted for a Booker Prize. This may have been the reason I requested a copy of her latest novel, “The Impossible Thing.” It delves into the mesmerizing world of… wait for it… egg collecting.

A valuable egg, one of thirty stolen from a dangerous Yorkshire cliff nest beginning in the 1920s, resurfaces a century later in the attic of a young man, Weird Nick. Oblivious to its worth, he lists the egg on eBay, only to have it stolen during a home invasion. Determined to recover the pilfered egg, Nick and his friend Patrick embark on a quest to find the thieves.

The story, told across two timelines, features well-developed characters and a brisk pace, making for a competent "whodunit" plot. Despite numerous positive reviews, I found the book to be slightly fluffier than I prefer. It's a good beach read, but not much more.

Thank you to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

3.5
This starts off really interesting looking at the once popular tradition of collecting precious eggs aka "climming" off the cliff in Yorkshire, England. You simply drop a rope over the cliff and scaled down to collect eggs that are then brought back up, carefully hollowed out, and then sold off to collectors.

I would've loved more about the actual life of those that lived in the village and collected eggs along with some of the politics surrounding that. But, this was more about the egg collectors and collecting in general. The book has two time points and I definitely had a favorite time frame to read about.

Overall, it was fine, but I felt like the storyline was a bit boring and could have done so much more. That said, I was definitely looking up pictures of these popular collector eggs of guillemot eggs.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grove Atlantic for the gifted e-copy of this book.

I both read and listened to this book on audio. I really enjoyed the audio which helped with the pacing in my opinion.

I've read and loved Bauer's books and this was no exception. However, this book, while fascinating, moved at a slower pace than I would have liked. I loved all the characters and I loved the moving back and forth in time to have mysteries unfold in several timelines. I loved falling head first into the world of egg collectors both in real life (as in physically collecting the eggs from the birds) and in the academic sense (who knew?!) and the obsession and craze and the ones who were taken advantage of and the ones who put themselves in all kinds of danger.

It will be impossible for you to not fall into the rabbit hole of this world of danger, intrigue and deception.

with gratitude to Grove Atlantic and Dreamscape Media and netgalley for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review

The Impossible Thing made my heart happy! The subject matter is original, the writing is gorgeous, the setting in England is atmospheric, and the characters are compelling. There is even mystery threaded throughout. Though I had heard about the guillemot birds and their stunning eggs, the information about their behaviours was new to me and I absorbed it like a sponge. Both of the timelines, mostly 1920s and then a century later, were a pleasure to be immersed in. Egg collecting was a lucrative business and people went to great lengths to gather the eggs from precarious cliff ledges. Some were eaten, others sold to collectors and museums. The Metland Egg was particularly valuable due to its unusual colouring. Gathering the eggs would have indeed been adventurous but not for the faint of heart, especially when it came to the cruel stealing from the parents and disposing of the chicks.

Both timelines were intriguing but my slight preference was for the first timeline as Celie and Robert's plight and survival were sad and harrowing yet hauntingly beautiful. Impoverished, they became climmers and gathered eggs from the Metland cliff which locals viewed was unbelievable due to its precarious location. Tiny Celie placed her absolute trust in Robert as he held the rope she dangled from. The eggs sometimes filled their bellies and did change their financial situation. Patrick in the second timeline was appealing as well. He and Weird Nick searched for a stolen Metland egg which took them on adventures of their own as they discovered the dark world of egg stealing.

Another thing that grabbed me is the amount of information I learned from the duties of each person comprising a climmer group to the birds themselves. Their chicks were too young to be fledglings; they were jumplings and like Celie, they placed their trust in those they loved. To reach adulthood they had to do the insurmountable. Talk about fascinating parallels! As a sea lover, I could taste, see and feel the salty air and wind and hear the screeching birds. I felt the novel's pull.

My expectations were high for this book after reading the synopsis but it still managed to take me by surprise. It was more in depth than I thought it would be and I easily became deeply engrossed. This one will stick with me for a long time.

Who knew that a book about bird eggs was going to be so riveting!?

Belinda Bauer’s The Impossible Thing is incredibly enthralling, hilarious, mysterious, and richly historical.

I was captivated from page one and could not read this fast enough as I swept away on a journey which was part mystery, part historical fiction as Bauer expertly reveals to us the hidden world of oology.

I, for one, had never heard of climming (stealing bird eggs for sale) and its subsequent outlawing. What a rabbit-hole I went down looking things up on Google with this book, I learnt so much!

We follow two timelines, one in the 1920s where we meet Celie who discovers what became known as the mythical Metland Egg – a red coloured Guillemot egg. This egg was so rare that egg traders were willing to pay big sums to own one. One such trader is George Ambler who strikes a deal with Celie to get the red egg every year.

In the present-day timeline, we follow Nick and Patrick in Wales. Nick’s house is burgled, an egg is stolen, and he enlists the help of Patrick to track down the thief.

Both timelines and their characters are brilliantly intertwined as we uncover the mystery of the Metland Egg.

The characters in this book, are in my opinion, some of the best I’ve ever read. We have endearing characters, funny characters, hateful characters and each one is so corporeal.

Celie’s story will break your heart, Patrick & Nick’s story will have you in tears of laughter. And all the while, you will be completely infatuated with the plot and chomping at the bit to find out more about this egg.

Honestly, no one is more surprised than me at how much I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I will be recommending this to family and friends for years to come.

Thanks to Grove Atlantic and NetGalley for the arc of this stunning book in exchange for an honest review.

Belinda Bauer’s novels always feature an unusual, often quirky, topic and in this case, it is the collection of rare bird eggs. In the early 20th century, men would collect eggs off the cliffs of North Yorkshire, hanging by ropes to pluck the most collectable colourful ones of the guillemots. They then were sold them dealers who would then sell them for a great deal more to collectors and museums.

In 1926, Celie, a small, neglected, undernourished girl lives on an impoverished farm, the youngest of five children. Shunned and mistreated by her family, because she was born looking nothing like her father or siblings. One day, she persuades her friend, the young farmhand Robbie, to lower her through a gap in the cliffs to collect an egg the other hunters can’t reach. It is of the rarest of colours ever seen and the payment the family receives for it changes their fortunes, but also exposes Celie to the greed of dealers and obsessed collectors.

A century later, Patrick Fort (introduced previously in ‘Rubberneckers’) is cycling past his friend weird Nick’s house when he notices the front door is wide open. Inside Nick and his mother have been tied up after a burglary by men wearing ski masks. Strangely, the only thing stolen was an egg in an intricately carved wooden box, something Nick found in his attic and listed on eBay. It was only there for about ten minutes before being taken down for being an illegal item to trade. Now Nick is determined to find out who took it and steal it back.

In their quest Nick and Patrick learn a lot about those who continue to hoard illegal eggs. They make an unusual pair of sleuths as much of their strategy is based on their favourite video game, ‘Call of Duty’. Patrick’s neurodiversity allowing him to think outside the box for ways to steal Nick’s egg back, often adding some humour to the plot.

Told in two time lines a century apart, this is a well written mystery with intriguing characters. The 1920s frenzy for egg collecting was well researched and eye opening, with little thought given to the cruelty to the birds for robbing them of their chick year after year. The tension and suspense builds as Nick and Patrick narrow their sights on the culprit and plot a crazy heist. Recommended for anyone looking for an unusual mystery with a unique and interesting plot.

The Impossible Thing is the story of egg thieves. In one early 20th-century timeline, Welsh farmers supplement their income by stealing guillemot eggs from sea cliffs, to be sold to wealthy collectors. In the present day, Patrick and Weird Nick are on a mission to track down the most famous of them, The Metland Egg, after it's stolen form Nick's attic. Part novelized history of a weird niche hobby and part humorous mystery, I found this book absorbing and burned through it. The amateur detectives are endearing, and the historical detail is very well done.
Thanks to Negalley and the publisher for the arc!