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.

Emma Donoghue has a gift for creating unforgettable female characters based on real women. This book takes the reader to a small Irish village and into the life of a girl who is fasting and her nurse.

The Wonder has some beautiful writing, a well developed main character and a strong sense of time and place BUT the plot (if any) is soooo slow I just gave up caring.
Full review to follow on http://www.bookbarmy.com

I was not a fan of this book. I loved Room and was excited for this title. However, it strayed so much from her national bestseller that I feel people who thought they loved her are going to find out she's not just that writer. She's a writer who can write about other things, but those particular things are not my style.

Maybe it was the subject matter. Maybe it was that I just wanted the main character to eat or for lib to be in on something bigger. I just could not get into this book. It felt disjointed and rushed at points. Rushed since it was so long is not necessary. Would read his author again but this was a miss for me

Ah this was a slow plot and read. I persevered and was glad I did as once it gets going it's great!....a totally unique plot and storyline. Had me scratching my head a lot trying to figure what was going on, how can a child survive so long without food or water? It's impossible, or is it??? Must read!

I was excited to read The Wonder because there was so much press about it. While I did enjoy it, I found it fairly slow. My book club chose it for its January pick. Emma Donoghue raises some thought-provoking ideas that definitely provided us with a lot to discuss. I was glad that I read it but it would not be a book that I would recommend to others. Thanks to Little, Brown and Company for the chance to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

WHAT I LIKED: This book is long, but it has so many layers. It only takes place over a period of a couple weeks, but the story was developed so slowly and beautifully that it didn’t feel rushed or drawn out. It was really refreshing to read such a well written and thought out novel. I haven’t read Room yet, but now I want to read it right now!

WHAT I DIDN’T: The only thing I can think of is that I was so frustrated with her doctor, but that just means that Donoghue did her job and made me feel something because of her character development. So this is a like masked in dislike.

I absolutely love Donoghue's writing style. It sucks you into the story immediately, and you feel as though you intimately know the characters, their surroundings and their situations. That being said, I had a hard time rooting for Lib for most of the book - I found her to be overly harsh and cynical toward Anna and the town itself. I thought that the uncertainty around whether Anna was a miracle or a fraud was interesting, as well as that question's resolution and the implications that came along with it for everyone involved.

Beautifully written haunting novel. Lib a nurse who was trained by Florence Nightingale is given a assignment an eleven year old girl who has not eaten for months . At first she is determined to prove the girl is faking and being slipped food . the answer is not quite that simple This novel has you doubting , believing and suspicious . There is an answer just not what you expect. you will have much sympathy for Anna the child and wish for Lib to find answers before it is too late.

This author never disappoints and this book was well written once again.

I will be honest in saying that I wasn't entirely sure what I would think of this book based on the blurb. I am not a fan of fiction that observes suffering closely, in general. So the concept of a little girl who hasn't eaten in months and is still alive made me squeemish. But I loved her novel Frog Music and heard good buzz about this one so I thought I would give it a shot when I saw it available on NetGalley.

I ended up liking it very much. I enjoyed the tension between the skeptic nurse and the nun who were hired to observe the girl for a week to ensure that she was not eating as a means of documenting the occurance as a miracle and elevating her to a position of saint. The setting was wonderful- rural Ireland and the characters rich and complex.

I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who likes historical fiction, books that test faith and science, and anyone looking to try her as an author.

Thanks to the publisher, Little, Brown and Company for the galley!

I had high hopes for The Wonder based on the reviews I’d read in addition to my own experience reading Room. Unfortunately, this book did not live up to my expectations.

First, and foremost, I found the pacing to be unbearably slow. The first 50% of the book could have been written in far fewer pages without compromising the details of the story. The chapters were frustratingly long. I’m not a huge fan of long chapters to begin with, but when there’s not much going on, they only serve to add to the sense that the book is dragging on.

Then there are the characters. As a nurse by profession, I found Lib’s character to be judgmental and annoying. Anna, though likable, was a little too pious to be believable. I would have liked to see her religious fervor balanced with a bit more normal girlishness. In fairness, we did catch a few glimpses; a few more would have made her character more realistic. Sister Michael, Lib’s job-share nurse if you will, started out as dull and staunch but I grew to like her quite a lot.

In terms of setting, Emma Donoghue did a great job describing the Irish countryside and the living quarters of the characters. I also enjoyed learning about the potato famine and other Irish historical facts and customs which were seamlessly woven into the story.

The last 10-15% of the book certainly held my attention. I can’t say much about the ending without spoilers but it packed an emotional punch. I was at once sad, angry, relieved, and surprised.

I loved that this book was based on the Fasting Girls, a group of about fifteen women from all over Western Europe and North America, who were said to have survived without food for long periods of time.

I think a great deal of my frustration with this book came from my feeling that it had much more potential. Because there were some aspects of this story I enjoyed, and because I so enjoyed Room, I would look forward to reading Emma Donoghue’s next book.

I would like to thank Little, Brown and Company via NetGalley for providing me with a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This book was too long and redundant for what it was. The first half was like an episode of "Mystery Diagnosis" until it was revealed that the startling symptoms were actually... starvation!!!! Far too much praying that really had no purpose. The ending had action, but that was about it. While I didn't dislike the reading experience, it doesn't inspire me to read other books by this author.

What an incredible book. The New York Times nailed it when describing this great read. Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for the perusal. I'll be thinking about this book for months to come...wonderful! 7 stars!!

This was fantastic. I had read Donoghue's Room in anticipation for the movie and really enjoyed how fluidly it read while also being deep and provoking. This was no different. I was pleasantly surprised and the premise is unique and intriguing. It did have a few slow bits but it wasn't something I ever wanted to put down. The characters were well written but I do think it was the plot that really sold me on this wonderful story.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. Interesting premise but ultimately neither the story nor the characters transported or enthralled me. It was almost predictable and while I wanted to find out the resolution to Anna and Lib's story, it was more out of curiosity than because I was emotionally invested. I know I'm in the minority here, and there were some good, thoughtful themes in the story, I kind of felt like I was reading it to get through it rather than because I was swept up in the story.

I ended up loving this one! Gosh, the ending makes it all seem so amazing.