The Breaking of Eggs

Change is in the air in a shabby apartment in the 19th arrondissment in Paris. One unremarkable day Madame Lefevre invites Feliks to call her Sandrine. As his indomitable landlady's manners have been as unvarying as her dresses for the last 36 years, this feels significant to Feliks. And it is. As the face of Europe transforms beyond recognition Feliks's own life teeters on the edge of change.

All it takes is one uncharacteristic decision and suddenly an unstoppable chain of life-changing events is set in motion. Feliks does not embrace change - in fact, it makes him most uncomfortable. But as he's reunited with a brother that he hasn't seen since his childhood and comes face-to-face with the love he let slip through his fingers, Feliks has to face up to the possibility that the convictions he has based his life upon were nothing but smoke and mirrors. Soon his carefully constructed world is tumbling round his ears and Feliks wonders: is there such a thing as a second chance?

Short-listed for Waverton Good Read Award 2011 (UK)
Long-listed for Desmond Elliott Prize 2010 (UK)

"A magnificent debut novel...a haunting, quietly brilliant story...a rare and remarkable achievement: a novel that meshes storytelling potency with historical erudition."
-"The Boston Globe"

"An impressive first novel...wise and witty."
-"American Spectator"

"Dramatic change comes to the rigidly ordered, solitary life of Feliks Zhukovski. A naturalized French citizen living in Paris, the irascible 61-year- old Polish leftist is stunned by the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union. He also gets the flu, and that spurs his first conversation in 36 years with his landlady. Feliks has always valued ideas and ideology over people, but events conspire to reunite him with the brother he hasn't seen for 50 years; take him to the hated U.S. to complete a business deal with capitalists (gasp!); discover the fate of his mother; and offer him a second chance at love. All of these events force Feliks to examine the choices he has made. Powell's delightful debut novel is by turns winsome and moving. Feliks is an indelible character, and the people who enter his life tell remarkable stories of the suffering that fascism and communism visited on Europe. "The Breaking of Eggs" is a book that thoughtful readers won't soon forget."
-Thomas Gaughan, "Booklist"


"I love this book...very funny and very sad, often on the same page... I love the cover, I love the title..."
-Nancy Pearl, "Book Lust"
"A magnificent debut novel...a haunting, quietly brilliant story...a rare and remarkable achievement: a novel that meshes storytelling potency with historical erudition."
-"The Boston Globe"
"An impressive first novel...wise and witty."
-"American Spectator"
"Dramatic change comes to the rigidly ordered, solitary life of Feliks Zhukovski. A naturalized French citizen living in Paris, the irascible 61-year- old Polish leftist is stunned by the sudden collapse of the Soviet Union. He also gets the flu, and that spurs his first conversation in 36 years with his landlady. Feliks has always valued ideas and ideology over people, but events conspire to reunite him with the brother he hasn't seen for 50 years; take him to the hated U.S. to complete a business deal with capitalists (gasp!); discover the fate of his mot

Jim Powell was born in London in 1949 and was educated at Cambridge. His first career was in advertising, becoming Managing Director of a major London agency. He then started a pottery business, producing hand-painted tableware for leading stores. He was previously active in politics, contesting the 1987 Election and collaborating with former Foreign Secretary Francis Pym on his book The Politics of Consent. He lives in Northamptonshire.

Change is in the air in a shabby apartment in the 19th arrondissment in Paris. One unremarkable day Madame Lefevre invites Feliks to call her Sandrine. As his indomitable landlady's manners have been as unvarying as her dresses for the last 36 years, this feels significant to Feliks. And it is. As the face of Europe transforms beyond recognition Feliks's own life teeters on the edge of change.All it takes is one uncharacteristic decision and suddenly an unstoppable chain of life-changing events is set in motion. Feliks does not embrace change - in fact, it makes him most uncomfortable. But as he's reunited with a brother that he hasn't seen since his childhood and comes face-to-face with the love he let slip through his fingers, Feliks has to face up to the possibility that the convictions he has based his life upon were nothing but smoke and mirrors. Soon his carefully constructed world is tumbling round his ears and Feliks wonders: is there such a thing as a second chance?

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