This book by Belinda Bauer failed to engage me, even after reading half the book, so I gave up. Here is the review from Publishers Weekly, one of several positive reviews of the book. "Bauer... tugs at the heartstrings in this extraordinary literary mystery that unfolds across intersecting timelines. In 1926, young Celie Sheppard retrieves a striking red egg from a guillemot's nest near her home in Yorkshire. With rare egg collecting booming in the region, Celie's discovery rescues her family from poverty--the egg's particular hue has never been seen before, and Celie finds it on a cliff near Metland Farm that's too treacherous for full-grown men to navigate. Her mother sells the egg to pay months of back rent, and enters into a contract to sell any other eggs that Celie finds. Eventually, the broker who buys Celie's egg is murdered. Bauer alternates that narrative thread with one set in the 21st century, in which a post about one of the so-called "Metland eggs" on eBay triggers a robbery that pits brothers Patrick and Nick Fort against an international crime ring. Bauer's deep empathy--for both her human characters and for the birds whose nests are looted--elevates the immersive and unpredictable plot."
Library Journal called it a "a time-twisting crime adventure"... Kirkus says of the book that it "Succeeds not only in its intricately balanced plot, but also in its emotional weight." The Times Literary Supplement calls it "an exciting contemporary whodunnit." The Wall Street Journal raves that it's "a cliffhanger of a tale." Decide for yourself.
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