The Impossible Thing: A Crime Novel

**A *New York Times* and *Guardian* Best Thriller of the Year**
**A *Deadly Pleasures* and *Minnesota Star Tribune* Best Book of the Year**
**“A cliffhanger of a tale . . . Around the mystery of the fate of the so-called Metland Egg, Bauer constructs a multigenerational drama as captivating as the fabled object itself . . . rich in humor and suspense.”— *Wall Street Journal***
**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.