The Impossible Thing
Published on 27. February 2025
Book
Hardback
336 pages
978-1-78763-097-0 (ISBN)
Description
From the Sunday Times bestselling and Booker-longlisted author of Snap, and winner of the CWA Crime Novel of the Year, comes 'An exciting contemporary whodunnit' (Times Literary Supplement)
*****'A unique crime novel that is both moving and funny . . . highly recommend'***** 5-STAR reader review
A summer's evening in 1926, and six-year-old Celie Shepherd is hungry, desperate and dangling from a cliff, as she stretches out to steal something impossible. The bold theft will change Celie's life, and the lives of many others.
One hundred years later, a remote home is ransacked by masked men. The only thing taken: a dusty box containing that same impossible thing. What could be so unique - and so valuable - that it is stolen again and again . . . and again?
So begins this extraordinary mystery from award-winning Belinda Bauer. The Impossible Thing brims with skulduggery at every turn, and is a blazing testament to Belinda Bauer's status as one of our greatest living crime writers.
'The most suspenseful whodunnit you'll read this year'
LEE CHILD
'A funny, moving and beautifully written tale' Guardian
Readers are OBSESSED with The Impossible Thing!
'Enthralling, hilarious, mysterious... I thoroughly enjoyed this book' 5-STAR reader review
'A perfect crime caper' Woman & Home
'Pure joy' VAL MCDERMID
'Packs a real punch' ANN CLEEVES
'Astonishing' New York Times
'Comic, thrilling and ultimately moving' The Scottish Mail on Sunday
'I loved every page of this unique mystery.' CLARE MACKINTOSH, bestselling author of I Let You GO
'One of the most enjoyable novels I've read in ages' PAULA HAWKINS, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train
*****'A unique crime novel that is both moving and funny . . . highly recommend'***** 5-STAR reader review
A summer's evening in 1926, and six-year-old Celie Shepherd is hungry, desperate and dangling from a cliff, as she stretches out to steal something impossible. The bold theft will change Celie's life, and the lives of many others.
One hundred years later, a remote home is ransacked by masked men. The only thing taken: a dusty box containing that same impossible thing. What could be so unique - and so valuable - that it is stolen again and again . . . and again?
So begins this extraordinary mystery from award-winning Belinda Bauer. The Impossible Thing brims with skulduggery at every turn, and is a blazing testament to Belinda Bauer's status as one of our greatest living crime writers.
'The most suspenseful whodunnit you'll read this year'
LEE CHILD
'A funny, moving and beautifully written tale' Guardian
Readers are OBSESSED with The Impossible Thing!
'Enthralling, hilarious, mysterious... I thoroughly enjoyed this book' 5-STAR reader review
'A perfect crime caper' Woman & Home
'Pure joy' VAL MCDERMID
'Packs a real punch' ANN CLEEVES
'Astonishing' New York Times
'Comic, thrilling and ultimately moving' The Scottish Mail on Sunday
'I loved every page of this unique mystery.' CLARE MACKINTOSH, bestselling author of I Let You GO
'One of the most enjoyable novels I've read in ages' PAULA HAWKINS, bestselling author of The Girl on the Train
Reviews / Votes
This highly imaginative and gloriously written novel is packed with memorable characters, most of them misfits. This is literary crime writing at its best. * Literary Review * Extraordinary * Sunday Express * Belinda Bauer is a genius - she can turn any idea into a solid gold, suspenseful, immersive and intriguing story. This could be her best ever. * LEE CHILD * A unique blend of crime and history. * Gazette & Herald * Comic, thrilling and ultimately moving. * The Scottish Mail on Sunday * Fans of Bauer know to expect something original from this most ingenious of crime writers. . . a funny, moving and beautifully written tale of misfits and oological obsession. * The Guardian * Intriguing . . . A perfect crime caper. * Woman & Home * Bauer (Exit) tugs at the heartstrings in this extraordinary literary mystery that unfolds across intersecting timelines . . . It's another winner from an impressively versatile writer. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) * Suspenseful, charming . . . [Bauer] is a sympathetic, playful writer, and she populates her book with as colorful an array of characters as you could hope for . . . Very exciting. * New York Times * An extraordinary novel. Belinda Bauer writes so beautifully. There's a deceptive simplicity to The Impossible Thing that packs a real punch, and the characters and their stories have really stayed with me. Highly recommended! * ANN CLEEVES, Sunday Times No.1 bestselling author *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Dimensions
Height: 239 mm
Width: 162 mm
Thickness: 32 mm
Weight
538 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78763-097-0 (9781787630970)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Belinda Bauer
The Impossible Thing
A joyful, captivating new mystery from the Sunday Times bestselling author of Snap
E-Book
02/2025
Transworld Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
Belinda Bauer grew up in England and South Africa and now lives in Wales. She worked as a journalist and a screenwriter before finally writing a book to appease her nagging mother.
For her debut, Blacklands, Belinda was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year. She went on to win the CWA Dagger in the Library for her body of work. Her fourth novel, Rubbernecker, was voted Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Her eighth novel, Snap, was a Sunday Times bestseller. It was longlisted for the Man Booker prize and voted Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards.
Her books have been translated into twenty-five languages.
For her debut, Blacklands, Belinda was awarded the CWA Gold Dagger for Crime Novel of the Year. She went on to win the CWA Dagger in the Library for her body of work. Her fourth novel, Rubbernecker, was voted Theakston's Old Peculier Crime Novel of the Year. Her eighth novel, Snap, was a Sunday Times bestseller. It was longlisted for the Man Booker prize and voted Crime & Thriller Book of the Year at the Specsavers National Book Awards.
Her books have been translated into twenty-five languages.