In The Wonder, an English nurse named Lib is summoned to a rural village in Ireland for a very unique assignment. In that village lives an 11-year-old girl named Anna O’Donnell and her two parents, who all claim that Anna has not eaten any food in four months, yet remains in good health. Anna continues to refuse to eat food and claims that she is surviving solely on "Manna from Heaven." Lib is assigned, along with a nun, to take alternating shifts to watch over Anna 24 hours a day in an attempt to find out if her claims are true. Lib undertakes the assignment with an extremely skeptical mindset, certain that she will catch the girl or her family concealing food somewhere, even as Anna, her parents, physician, and those in the village insist that she has not been eating and that her continued health is nothing short of a religious miracle. As the days pass, and Lib begins to bond with Anna, Lib begins to doubt herself and wonder if something extraordinary truly is going on.

Set in the 19th century, the atmosphere is dark, dreary, and at times almost supernatural. The deeply Catholic religious beliefs of those in the village, and Irelanders in general through Lib’s eyes are stifling and constricting, full of ridiculous, yet deeply held superstitions. This creates feelings of hopelessness, aloneness, and futility in Lib as her rational, scientific outlook clashes with the views of those around her. She is repeatedly faced with moral dilemmas that pit religion against science and faith against reason as she attempts to figure the truth. The story is a bit slow at times in the middle, but eventually the tension ratchets up to a truly heart-pounding ending. This beautifully written, captivating, and unique story is definitely worth a read.

Rating: 4.5/5

Lib Wright, a nurse trained by Florence Nightingale, journeys to a small village in Ireland to take on a two-week case. Her assumption that she is being hired by a wealthy family that can afford to bring a nurse out from England turns out to be false. She has been hired by a committee to observe Anna O’Donnell, an eleven-year-old who has reportedly not eaten for months. Her job is to make sure whether the girl is actually eating or not.

At first, Lib suspects that Anna is perpetrating a hoax, but slowly she realizes that the deeply religious girl believes she is living on manna from heaven. Still, she finds the people of the village steeped in ignorance and superstition, the local doctor incompetent, and her employers with a vested interest in a miracle. Her only confidante becomes someone she shouldn’t even be talking to—William Byrne, a journalist.

As Anna shows unmistakable signs of starvation and imminent death, Lib eventually finds out what is going on, but no one believes her. Suspense builds as you wonder whether and how Lib will be able to save Anna.

For me, this was a surprisingly good book. I didn’t think I would enjoy it based on the subject matter, and later, I could not imagine how it would end. It has a great deal of psychological depth and often feels like a mystery.

I (like many readers, I suspect) read and loved Donoghue's "Room" so much that I was thrilled to read a new book she had written. 'The Wonder' is quite different from 'Room', but I thoroughly enjoyed it. It is dark and atmospheric, plunging the reader into the small, insular world of a remote village in Ireland. As the mystery gradually unfolded, I didn't know what to believe. But, as Lib began to care deeply about what happened to the little girl at the center of it all, I too was sucked in and had to keep reading to find out how it ended.

I recommended this book to my book club for our October read, and I can't wait to find out what they thought of it. Highly recommended.

Amazing book. Loved loved loved

Highly recommend

The book was a little slow to start, but once it got going it was suspenseful and kept me guessing. The big reveal st the end was disturbing to say the least. It was a very well written piece of historical fiction that forces the reader to question what lengths people will go to in the name of religion.

GREAT book!!! I'd read again, and I don't re-read books!

This was just ok for me. It was really slow, and I had to push myself to keep going. The end was good, but I dont know if I appreciate what it took to get there. Sorry.

I received this book for my honest review from Netgalley.com.
There were times while reading this book when I sat back and actually said out loud, "What is going on here? What are these people thinking?" And then to myself, "what is Donoghue trying to get across?". I don't think this historical fiction was as good as Donoghue's contemporary fiction 'Room', but it was definitely an emotional thought-provoking read. Several times, I was frustrated and just put it down, only to pick it up the next day to find out more about the little girl and the nurse. Because of this, it took me a good while to read, but I'm sure glad I finished. Yes, it's worth reading.
Thank you Netgalley.com! I have also posted this review at https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1646365508

I'm not sure when NetGalley decided to approve my request for this book, but I was super excited to read this because I enjoyed both Room and Slammerkin!

The Wonder is less like Room and more like Slammerkin because it's historical fiction. Inspired by the tales of the 'Fasting Girls', who were supposed to have done without food for long periods, it follows Lib, a nurse who is charged with making sure that Anna is surviving without any food.

Since Lib accepted the job without knowing what it entailed, she is shocked by the requirements. But as a nurse trained by Florence Nightingale herself, she is determined to be careful, methodical and to expose Anna as the fraud she is. But as she spends more time with Anna, she realises that the girl really does believe that she doesn't need to it.

The only problem is - her body is dying from starvation.

I'm not going to say more and reveal the ending but I thought this was an absorbing book. It's told in five long parts (really, don't start a part/chapter unless you know you have the time to finish it) and even though the events all take place in a week, it feels like forever and yet no time has passed. Through her interactions with Anna, Lib is forced to confront her own demons.

The characters here are well-written. Apart from Anna and Lib, I found that even minor characters have layers to them. Who is impartial? Who has an agenda? Well, in the end, I was so angry at many of the characters (who appeared quite innocent at the start) but the truth of who they were felt believable (if sad).

Oh and this is one of the books where the setting is practically a character. The story takes place in Ireland, with all its confusion that it gives to Lib with her modern way of thinking, and I cannot imagine the story taking place anywhere else. The Irish characters are clearly shaped by the land that they live in and their actions are influenced by their culture and heritage. Every time a character that was not Lib spoke or acted, there was the sense that this was Ireland.

I would definitely recommend this book to fans of historical fiction or people just looking for an engaging story featuring strong characters. A word of warning: the book does deal with very dark themes, especially towards the end. Do not expect this to be an easy read, although I guess the premise would have told you that already.

Disclaimer: I got a free copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for a free and honest review.

This book got me gripped from the very beginning. Even though it was a bit slow at first, it was quite an interesting ride.
The incredible plot twist at the end was wonderful. It really showed the characters' development through the story, especially those of Lib, Sister Michael, Anna, and Mr. Byrne. And it was a great way to wrap up this whole rollercoaster of a plot.

Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity to read THE WONDER by Emma Donoghue. I read ROOM and thought it was one of the best books I have read. Donoghue puts you right there and makes it difficult to breath. Her follow up The Wonder is much different, but similar. She takes the reader on a journey to meet a young irish girl who has not eaten for over 4 months. She introduces us to a young Engish nurse who must watch this girl, Anna, to see if she really has not eaten or is making a mokery of everyone.
The Nurse, Mrs. Wright, is determined to get to the bottom of this "hoax", but she gets more than she bargained for when she meets young Anna. Mrs. Wright is about to learn alot, about herself, her life, and humanity as well.
This is a good book and if you are Irish, you certainly will enjoy it more!
The Wonder is well written and keeps you engaged to get to the bottom of this mystery as well. The "lingo" can be distracting as the Irish dialect can be a bit confusing. Solid read.

to be perfectly honest, this book was an absolute slog to get through. i very seriously considered giving up at about 25%, but i suck at giving up on books so i kept going. i am glad i did, because i really enjoyed the last 25%. it was a lovely story, a fabulous happy ending for the little girl after such a crappy childhood.

Emma Donoghue has the unique ability to place the reader in a precarious, uncomfortable and psychologically fraught situation — it is utterly compelling, and almost equally frustrating. In this story set in the Irish Midlands, Donoghue's characters are perfectly balanced; so that while there are certainly "good guys" and "bad guys" in a traditional sense, many of them cross the line back and forth between the two. There is a danger here in giving away the story with the small details, but I usually try to avoid that anyway. When I first finished this book, I could only comment on Goodreads that it was disturbing, and I needed time to recover. I have had some time now, but I'm not so sure I have recovered. Don't let that stop you from reading this book. In fact, it should make you go out and get it right now.

Donoghue can do no wrong and this book does not fail to impress.

It is hard not to compare this to Ms. Donoghue's blockbuster Room, as that is the book that put her on the map. While The Wonder was a touching story of the relationship between a 19th century nurse (trained by Ms. Nightingale herself) and her faithful 11 year old charge, it does not have the same depth that Jack had with is mother in Room.
This book may have been better served as a novella. It began to feel repetitious in nature as we join Lib every 8 hours in returning to Anna's bedside, to once and for all prove that Anna is not a saint, and her starvation is self imposed (and helped along with food snuck by the family). Lib's distrust permeates the story, which makes the ending almost unreasonable. The tidbit's for Lib's past help make it believable, and offer the chance for a peek at Lib's tender side.

A fine enough book, not Emma's best, however.

I absolutely adored The Wonder. It has so many of my favourite things in one gorgeous passage. Emma Donoghue's prose is gorgeous and her descriptions of this world through the eyes of Lib Wright is both fascinating and incredibly vividly realised. The portrayal of Anna is superb and I found myself unable to drag myself away from her world. I loved The Room and was delighted at how different The Wonder was. I know that it will definitely bring her new readers as well as delighting all of her established readers. Its portrayal of faith and belief in rural Ireland was absolutely fantastic and so very thought provoking too. I adored it and will be suggesting it to many of y students as an Advanced English dissertation text. Another amazing read from Emma,

Donoghue's 'follow-up' of sorts to the emotionally crippling & innovative Room, The Wonder solidifies herself as perhaps one of the best novelists writing in English--lyrical at moments with a gentle intensity

Loved this story...have shared it w/ many. Thank you for the privilege of reading it. Popular at my local library, too.

This beautifully written novel has an intriguing premise and the curious effect of making you question both your own beliefs and those of the author. Is this an attack on the Catholic Church as some reviewers have suggested or is it just a matter of putting a question of faith out there to make readers think? The characters are sharply drawn and the story carefully plotted. Not all of the novel is as fast paced as you might like- in fact it can feel quite slow in parts- but on the whole you will be glad to have read it. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC.

From the very beginning of The Wonder, author Emma Donoghue sets up clear foci for narrative drama – the English versus the Irish; science and logic versus folklore and superstition; a single woman versus a group of powerful men; fundamentalism and faith versus common sense and love – and uses the phenomenon of the Victorian-era ‘fasting girls’ to explore these themes.

Eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell hasn’t eaten for four months, yet remains alive and well. Newspaper reports proclaiming Anna’s existence a miracle; visits and donations from people paying homage; and the curiosity of doctors and priests, prompts the employment of a British nurse, Lib Wright, to investigate whether Anna is a fraud. Lib, an atheist and a highly experienced nurse, is dismissive of the religious devotion and folklore that drives the small town, and believes she will quickly expose the secret feeding of Anna.

“The girl was charming, in her unworldly way. Lib found it hard to keep in mind that Anna was a trickster, a great liar in a country famous for them.”

However, after days of close surveillance, Lib begins to wonder whether she is turning the O’Donnell’s ruse into a reality. What follows is not so much a ‘whodunnit’, but a ‘why’?

I couldn’t help but compare The Wonder to Hannah Kent’s The Good People. Both books were released around the same time last year, and both focus on folklore versus ‘common sense’. The Wonder succeeded where The Good People did not – integration of Irish fairy tales and superstition was seamless in Donoghue’s story, and added to the narrative (whereas in Kent’s story, I felt the detail was laboured).

Complementing the folklore elements of the story were the religious. Lib dismisses Anna’s faith and prayers as “mumbo-jumbo” in favour of science and logic, although Anna’s family and the broader community hold fast to their beliefs. The famine is recent history and the townsfolk are all too familiar with hunger, loss and grief –

“…a child now eleven must have been born into hunger. Weaned on it, reared on it; that had to shape a person. … every thrifty inch of Anna’s body had learned to make do with less.”

Although the story flagged a little toward the middle, it was intriguing enough to prompt me to further research the ‘fasting girls’. Donoghue provides enough twists toward the end to surprise the reader, and equally to leave them pondering Lib’s beliefs.

3/5 A solid choice if you’re after an historical thriller.

I received my copy of The Wonder from the publisher, Little Brown & Company, via NetGalley, in exchange for an honest review.