The Impossible Thing

 The Impossible Thing by Belinda Bauer

A unusual story based on a real world crime involving the theft of a rare red guillemot egg. I had no idea what a guillemot was (a seabird of the auk family), that their eggs were considered collectable (because of their colours), or the lengths to which collectors (called oologists) would go to obtain them.  

At the Metland farm in Yorkshire, a young girl, Celie, and a farmhand, Robert, collect a valuable rare guillemot egg from a rocky cliff nest by dangerously lowering the girl through a crevice in the rock. There she hangs, suspended in a rope harness over the ocean, as she reaches into an opening to grab the egg. Once back up, there is an eager collector willing to pay a good price for this treasure. 

A century later, someone breaks into Weird Nick's house to steal a red egg he'd purchased as a curiousity on Ebay. He and his friend, Patrick, figure it must be valuable if someone wanted it that badly, so they set out to find the thief and get it back. This will involve them in a world they hadn't known existed, filled with obsessive collectors and sketchy characters who don't like to play by the rules. 

With dual timelines and engaging characters in both, the story moves along at a good pace and is just dramatic enough (I've read a few that overdid it recently and it gets old fast) to be realistic and make you eager to keep reading. And it was an entertaining introduction to the world of egg-collecting, which I had no idea was a thing. 

A good story with clear, uncluttered writing, an intriguing plot, and likable characters.