To even give away a hint of the astoundingly imaginative narrative of Isaac and the Egg would be to ruin the journey into its gloriously soul excoriating wonders but suffice to say, Palmer has crafted what feels like almost all the time you’re reading it, like the definitive guide to what grief feels like.

He comes to rely on Egg as a way of navigating his life as it is now. He also has to take care of it, giving him something to focus on other than his self-loathing and guilt. As Egg starts to morph into something less egg-like, the relationship between the two of them evolves into something utterly unique. This story is incredible. A tale so beautiful and funny and heart-warming, yet filled with the most evocative descriptions of grief I've ever read. It takes some authorly skill to have a character so bereaved that their mind breaks apart in the same chapter as a hilarious scene of a man and a creature playing baseball with the contents of the fridge. I have avoided the recent trend of books about grief and have issues with audio so this was another choice that perplexed me in hindsight – that was until I started listening.No matter their size, eggs are as much a symbol of fertility – and therefore joy – as they are of terror. And while an egg might represent fragility, it’s also the very definition of strength: need I remind you that Gaston ate four dozen eggs every morning to help him get large? This review is for the audio version of the novel, I found the audio version made a great bedtime story, the narrators tone, pitch and pace matched the story perfect. I found the 30-40mins chapters just the right amount for a chapter before bed, with the excellent voices done by the narrator I felt I got a sense of how Iscca as feeling and I loved the sarcasm at times and the way the narrator conveyed this. This story made a great audiobook and I suspect it would be equally as great in print. That is until he walks into the woods one day on what is undoubtedly the worst day of a life that doesn’t feel like it’s ever going to get any better, and finds his existential scream of neverending pain answered by something that sounds as lost as he is. Truly one of the most beautiful stories you'll ever read, written with generosity and warmth, and such perception. What's it about? I'd love to have a stab at explaining, but I can't. You're just going to have to find out for yourself. I can tell you one thing: it's a story for anyone who has ever lost somebody, or has ever lost their way

I was worried that the ending would shatter me. But it is heartwarming and hopeful, and more importantly, proceeds logically from the story.This is a deceptively complex novel; a skillful sleight of hand which charms us so fully with its accessible and hugely sympathetic two-hander that we become unaware of what it’s doing under the surface. One of the hallmarks of timeless, classic fiction is to make the specific universal, and stripped of its outer eccentricities this is exactly what Palmer’s novel does. For Isaac is both himself and all of us: in our particular capacity to both love and lose what we love and to grieve its absence in absolutely human ways. An utter sparkler of a novel… highly imaginative, extremely funny and profoundly empathetic’ S UNDAY INDEPENDENT

The two are unlikely companions. But their chance encounter will transform Isaac's life in ways he cannot yet imagine. As this was the audio book I listened to, I’ll cover the audio aspect first. It was the narrators wonderful voice that captured both my interest in listening to a book for a change, and capturing my interest in the story itself. I listened to a sample first, and by the time the sample had finished I had to know more of what happened next and what this story was about. It sounded so sad and of course by now I was hooked into the brilliant story telling by Johnny Flynn.

The cover is such a fabulous representation of the book and I love it...so much so I just sat staring at the cover after I'd finished the book fully understanding what the cover was about. 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. I'd been hearing so many wonderful things about this book, the book with the egg, the debut that has everybody talking and ok WOW, I get it: what a special little book this is!