Publisher's Synopsis
At the age of 43, Cedric Bates, an otherwise ordinary and very under-achieving Englishman, becomes the first human in recorded history to lay golden eggs. Subsequently, the eggs are pronounced by experts to be "real Fauxberge" eggs of the purest vintage, and they fetch an astronomical price at an auction. With the money Cedric's life and status change. His loving elderly parents at first don't recognize the smart young man-about-town who visits them and gives them a down-payment for a new apartment. With his new-found affluence Cedric determines to help humanity. Then his parents deliver a new shock - they admit that they are secret Jews from a family of refugees from the Inquisition in Portugal, and so Cedric is Jewish. This prompts him to take his Judaism seriously, and through the Internet he makes contact with his 16th century Marrano ancestor who, before he perishes on the auto-da-fé, charges him with a unique mission, which Cedric successfully undertakes. In the process Cedric meets his future wife and finally stops producing golden eggs.
