From the exceptionally original mind of CWA Gold Dagger Award winner and Booker longlisted author Belinda Bauer comes this 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.
Phil Dunster's narration draws listeners into this mystery revolving around the now illegal collection of birds' eggs. The story is based in Yorkshire, England, in the 1920s and then jumps to current times. Listeners follow the journey of a rare egg that is found by a girl who risks her life by joining the many men who are precariously dangled over the edges of cliffs to obtain guillemot eggs. One
