Reader’s Review: Under the Egg

When Theodora “Theo” Tenpenney’s grandfather, Frank, dies unexpectedly, she is left to take care of her mother – a recluse obsessed with mathematical equations. The family house in Greenwich Village is in disrepair. The food is almost gone, except for the chicken eggs. Each morning Theo gathers the new eggs and places the purest, most perfect, egg in the place of honor on the mantel. Serving as an enlarged reflection is Frank’s painting – a large white egg. Theo knows there is something special about that egg. Frank had managed to whisper something about “treasure” and “under the egg”. But what was it? When some rubbing alcohol accidentally spills on the upper corner, Frank’s painting starts peeling away. What it reveals is a melancholy portrait of the child and Madonna accompanied by a curious Latin saying.

Theo’s journey to solve the mystery of the egg introduces her to a movie star’s daughter, a chemist from Mumbai who sells roasted peanuts, the rocking new librarian, and painting curators who are after the masterpiece under the egg. Mix in an eccentric, tea-selling, French neighbor, World War II, and art history – Laura Marx Fitzgerald’s Under the Egg is sure to ignite your imagination and sense of adventure.

• Posted by Shanelle