Apr 12, 2024 Zora StowersIsaac and the Egg by Bobby Palmer review quirky, tender tale with echoes of ETAudiobook of the weekAudiobooksReviewThe actor Johnny Flynn captures this debut novel’s offbeat humour and the intense loneliness of its protagonist in his terrific narrationIsaac and the Egg, the debut novel by Bobby Palmer, opens with Isaac Addy standing on a bridge at sunrise and considering whether to jump. He can’t recall how he got there though the taste in his mouth suggests he has been drinking. He can see his car at the end of the bridge, with the lights on and the driver’s door still open. Looking at the water below, Isaac lets out a scream of despair, at which “the weir stops bubbling, as if it’s paused to listen.
The forest holds its breath. Time seems to stand still. Then, out of nowhere, something screams back.”Isaac immediately goes in search of the source of the noise. What he finds is not an animal or a human but a living, breathing egg, about two feet tall and “eerily” white, “like a pearl at the centre of the biggest oyster on earth … In his heart, Isaac knows the egg has been abandoned.
Like him. He already knows he’s going to take the egg home.”There are deliberate echoes of ET in this story of an otherworldly being – one with the same shuffling gait as Spielberg’s alien – discovered by a human who sees in him a kindred spirit. The actor Johnny Flynn provides a terrific narration, capturing the book’s quirky humour along with the intense loneliness of Isaac, whose life has gone awry ever since his wife, Mary, died. Part fairytale, part whimsical comedy, Isaac and the Egg is a tender story of love, grief and the transformative power of friendship.
Isaac and the Egg by Bobby Palmer is available via Headline Review, 7hr 25minFurther listeningSend NudesSaba Sams, WF Howes, 4hr 56minVictoria Fox narrates this variously funny and poignant short story collection about teenage girlhood and coming of age at a time of uncertainty and fear and fear.skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Inside SaturdayFree weekly newsletterThe only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend.Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionThis Is Not a Pity MemoirAbi Morgan, John Murray, 7hr 44minThe Welsh playwright and screenwriter’s intimate and frank account of her husband’s hospitalisation from encephalitis, when he was put in a medically induced coma, is read by actor Fiona Button.ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7tbTEoKyaqpSerq96wqikaJqfpLi0e5FpaWxnkaq0cH6UaKCsmZGYeqK6w2aroZ1dmrSoecGyZJunkpfGbrzApaSeql2nsre1xLBkqq2Zp7i6edOepZ2domLBorjEZq6irJhisqS0zp6qZqeWYrK1←Girl, 2, has chunk of her nose bitten off by dog on trip to rescue centre The Sun Powerball winning numbers for Monday, 12/26/2022: $201 Million Jackpot→