The Egg and I, first published in 1945, is a humorous memoir by American author Betty MacDonald about her adventures and travels as a young wife on a chicken farm on the Olympic Peninsula in the US state of Washington.

The book is based on the author's experiences as a newlywed trying to acclimate to and operate a small chicken farm near Chimacum, Washington, with her first husband, Robert Heskett, from 1927 to 1931.

Her mother's theory that a wife must support her husband in his career comes into play when the author marries a friend of her brother (Bob), who soon admits that his dream is to leave his current office job and start a chicken ranch.

On September 12, 1946, the specially bound one-millionth copy of the book was presented to MacDonald by Washington Governor Monrad Wallgren at a luncheon in Seattle.

Main received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, and the film inspired nine subsequent Ma and Pa Kettle features.

[6][7] In 2005, a literary critic examining MacDonald's body of work wrote, “Without overcoming or correcting the racism in Egg, her stories in her subsequent books describe and implicitly advocate the benefits of a multicultural society (especially those available in an urban space like Seattle).

MacDonald faced two lawsuits over the book’s content (see below); plaintiffs did not prevail, although the judge indicated he felt they had shown that some of the claims of defamation had merit.

Their oldest son Edward and his wife Ilah Bishop filed the first lawsuit, which was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

B. Lippincott Company, and The Bon Marché (a Seattle department store which had promoted and distributed the book) for total damages of $975,000, as sought by nine other members of the Bishop family ($100,000 each) and Raymond H. Johnson ($75,000), who claimed he had been portrayed as the Indian "Crowbar".