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A debut novel unwinds the tangle of twentieth-century history with wit, humor, and humanity...
61-year-old Feliks is a naturalized Frenchman, a displaced Pole and former Communist-and a curmudgeon-who has made his living writing a yearly travel guide to the countries behind the Iron Curtain. In 1991, with the Curtain now fallen, Feliks finds his beliefs beginning to crumble around him. When a rapacious American publisher offers to buy out his life's work, Feliks must travel to the country he has long despised, and so begins the wry and moving tale of a man who awakens from self-imposed isolation into a changed world he must get to know all over again. So unfolds a story of family, war, politics, a second chance at love, and one man's quest for himself.
"The Breaking of Eggs is a book that thoughtful readers won't soon forget." - Booklist
"Funny and compelling." - Kirkus Reviews
"[A] fluent and unusual novel" - The Sunday Times
"With great charm, humor and wisdom, (and a vast amount of modern European history), Powells tells of Feliks' rebirth from a political to an emotional creature. This story manages to take well-worn themes—the horrors of wars, the decisions made and misunderstood or regretted, the costs of political allegiances, the elasticity of families—and make them into a fresh and moving and remarkable story. Unforgettable." - Leslie Reiner, Inkwood Books (Tampa, FL)
This information about The Breaking of Eggs was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Jim Powell was born in London in 1949 and was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge. His first career was in advertising, becoming Managing Director of the London partner of New York’s largest agency. He then started a pottery with a ceramic designer, producing hand-painted tableware for leading stores, including Bloomingdale’s. He was previously active in politics, standing for Parliament in the 1987 Election and collaborating on a book with former Foreign Secretary Francis Pym.
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