A lonely, sad man is contemplating ending his life. He screams. Then he hears a scream in the woods. He is shocked out of his grief and goes to investigate and meets the Egg. It is an attention-grabbing opening to a book that is an emotional roller coaster of a story.

The author, Bobby Palmer, set out to write a book where grief, instead of being portrayed as a dark foreboding monster, was a “chaotic, comedic creature which, in its absurdity, is impossible to ignore.”

The egg is certainly absurd and comedic (the grapefruit scene really made me laugh). And the whole book is very intimate and strange, as things twist and unfold. As a book centered around grief, it’s very affecting, whilst not being a sob story. It’s heart-warming and weird, about the strangely life-has-stopped insular experience of a life-changing experience. But it’s also about finding a reason to go on and hope.

The Thursday book group mostly liked it, but one reader absolutely hated it. Scores ranged from 4 to 10/10.