Joined in 2023 
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My thanks to Headline Audio and NetGalley for the ALC of “Isaac and the Egg”. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the audiobook. Isaac Addy is a man bereft, not just of his wife Mary, who has died, but of his selfhood. A scatty children’s book illustrator who had “always thought his biggest fear was people not liking him”, he is now aimless, bedraggled and literally about to jump off a bridge into the abyss when he hears a scream that leads him to a creature that looks startlingly like an egg and, “for the first time in weeks, feels an emotion that isn’t despair”. Sometimes, to get out of the woods, you have to go into them. Isaac and the Egg is one of the most hopeful, honest and wildly imaginative novels you will ever listen to.
Isaac and The Egg completely astounded me! What a beautifully written novel about love, grief, joy and life…I could not put it down. The representation of a young man dealing with profound grief is written with such empathy and with hints of deepest despair and moments of pure joy. I cannot recommend this beautiful book highly enough. Denise, NSW, 5 Stars
Hobbies
Heartbreaking and heart-stealing, this modern-day fable is an unforgettable novel about sorrow, joy, friendship and love. 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. For the first half of this book I was unsure if this was fantasy or reality, or if I even liked it. By the second half of the book I was captivated and couldn’t put it down. Never before have I read a book quite like it – beautifully lyrical, warm and yet sad, leaving question upon question. In parts I laughed. In other parts I thought “what on earth is this about?” and as the story unravelled and we learned more about Isaac Addy, I sobbed and sobbed. If you are looking for a book that pulls on the heartstrings in a touching and uniquely creative way – this is it. Nicole, NSW, 4 Stars It’s full of truths, messy and surprising, that Isaac has been hiding from his new, improbable friend…
No-one escapes grief and heartbreak and everyones journey through it will be different. Despite this story dealing with grief, it is wonderfully hopeful, charming and even funny at times.
Non-Fiction
A cry of despair perhaps even greater than his own. The sound draws Isaac into the woods. What he finds there changes everything. 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.
An utter sparkler of a novel… highly imaginative, extremely funny and profoundly empathetic’ S UNDAY INDEPENDENTIsaac has no idea where the egg has come from or what it’s doing there but he’s overcome with the need to protect it, so he bundles it up and takes it home. I imagine the portrayal of the characters by the narrator is exactly how the author intended. Johnny Flynn has a soothing, but engaging voice – absolutely perfect for such a touching, tender story. I even wonder would I have enjoyed the book quite so much had I read it myself. I will never know because I can’t unhear it, I’ve been spoilt and if all narrators were this good, I’d maybe never read a book myself again.
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