The Wonder
by Emma Donoghue
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In this masterpiece by Emma Donoghue, bestselling author of Room, an English nurse is brought to a small Irish village to observe what appears to be a miracle -- a girl said to have survived without food for month -- and soon finds herself fighting to save the child's life. Tourists flock to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell, who believes herself to be living off manna from heaven, and a journalist is sent to cover the sensation. Lib Wright, a veteran of Florence Nightingale's show more Crimean campaign, is hired to keep watch over the girl. Written with all the propulsive tension that made Room a huge bestseller, The Wonder works beautifully on many levels -- a tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a powerful psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil. Acclaim for The Wonder: "Deliciously gothic.... Dark and vivid, with complicated characters, this is a novel that lodges itself deep" (USA Today, 3/4 stars) "Heartbreaking and transcendent"(New York Times) "A fable as lean and discomfiting as Anna's dwindling body.... Donoghue keeps us riveted" (Chicago Tribune) "Donoghue poses powerful questions about faith and belief" (Newsday) show lessTags
Recommendations
Member Recommendations
kqueue Both present thorny ethical dilemmas in a historic setting with sympathetic characters.
11
akblanchard Two stories of "fasting girls".
Member Reviews
Lib, a nurse trained by the famous Nightingale herself, has an interesting assignment. An eleven-year-old girl supposedly has not eaten for four months. Lib, sharing duties with a nun, is to find evidence that this is a true miracle or expose it as a hoax. But her involvement with the girl Anna soon becomes Lib’s obsession. As Lib learns more about the Irish, Catholicism, and the family, she becomes determined to save Anna at all costs. But as Anna grows sicker, not even her Parrish priest can give her comfort, so how can Lib? Author Emma Donoghue paints an extraordinary picture of a young life misinterpreting her religious tenets and accepting the ultimate payment for her sin. This well thought-out tale with unforgettable characters show more may lead you to believe in the miraculous but the author cleverly inserts something more sinister: the perverse nature of humankind. show less
I loved this book. It starts slow, and I didn't find Lib particularly likable at first. Slowly, as she grows through the story, Lib grew on me. The pace picks up through the middle of the book, and by the end, I wouldn't put it down unless I had to (I suppose I should stop reading this book to feed my children?). I often dislike books that touch on questions of religion and scientific skepticism because the authors are only rarely accepting toward both sides. I don't generally enjoy reading books in which I can clearly see the author's personal beliefs and hostility to certain characters. This one is balanced and fair, depicting the religious life of the family and community and Lib's skepticism with honesty and without judgement. By show more the end of this book, there are characters who are clearly less sympathetic than others, but they are still treated as human by the author, not drawn as caricatures for her to mock and hate. While I was able to guess the two surprises about the missing brother long before they were revealed in the story, I wasn't able to guess the actual outcome of the novel until I reached the end. By then, I loved Lib, loved William Byrne, and loved Anna. show less
Argh, GR ate my review. I will try to summarize this slow, meandering, gloomy, provocative and perfect book.
1) Emma Donoghue really hates the Catholic Church. Like really hates it. And she despises the concept of miracles.
2) Emma Donoghue loves and hates Ireland is roughly equal amounts. This book is more about Ireland than just about anything else, and I can't recall reading a better drawn character.
3) Ireland is a place where people live to hope, and then actively and inexplicably destroy all possibility of hope being fulfilled and thereby define their fate.
4) Donoghue knows the pain of bearing guilt for not saving men from their own weaknesses. I suspect she knows this is intellectually indefensible and personally inescapable.
5) show more People prefer faith to knowledge because it is easier, and people who prefer faith to knowledge deserve their ruin, but most often then bring others with them.
6) Love trumps ignorance.
7) Parenthood comes in many different ways.
I will fill in the blanks and recreate my review at some point, but that covers things pretty well.
ETA: I listened to the audiobook and the reader was excellent. show less
1) Emma Donoghue really hates the Catholic Church. Like really hates it. And she despises the concept of miracles.
2) Emma Donoghue loves and hates Ireland is roughly equal amounts. This book is more about Ireland than just about anything else, and I can't recall reading a better drawn character.
3) Ireland is a place where people live to hope, and then actively and inexplicably destroy all possibility of hope being fulfilled and thereby define their fate.
4) Donoghue knows the pain of bearing guilt for not saving men from their own weaknesses. I suspect she knows this is intellectually indefensible and personally inescapable.
5) show more People prefer faith to knowledge because it is easier, and people who prefer faith to knowledge deserve their ruin, but most often then bring others with them.
6) Love trumps ignorance.
7) Parenthood comes in many different ways.
I will fill in the blanks and recreate my review at some point, but that covers things pretty well.
ETA: I listened to the audiobook and the reader was excellent. show less
What collective madness had the townspeople in its grip? "If they're concerned that a child is being allowed to kill herself, quotation mark Lib demanded, quotation mark why don't they stormed the cabin?" (261)
In mid-nineteenth century rural Ireland, eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell has been fasting for four months, existing only on what she calls “manna from heaven.” Chants of “miracle” have reached fever pitch now – tourists flock to the small village in droves, hoping to glimpse first-hand this tiny miracle of God. An international journalist has been sent to cover the spectacle, too. It is into this madness that Lib, a Nightingale-trained English nurse arrives – having been hired to watch over Anna, day and night – to show more determine whether the child is fraud. But as Lib’s young charge wastes away, she cannot but feel compelled to get to the root of why the child may actually be the victim of murder in slow motion. Most distressingly, what of the child’s parents, and of the village doctor and priest? – so imprisoned by their Catholicism that they hope and pray the child is a miracle, or a saint – but fail to encourage her to eat?
Donoghue writes beautifully – The Wonder is cast in that same spare, compelling prose that made Room such a success. Tense and multi-layered, she asks big questions here about faith and about human nature, while at the same time telling a simple, uncomplicated story of two strangers who will transform each other’s lives. Highly recommended.
"None are so blind as those who will not see." (287) show less
In mid-nineteenth century rural Ireland, eleven-year-old Anna O’Donnell has been fasting for four months, existing only on what she calls “manna from heaven.” Chants of “miracle” have reached fever pitch now – tourists flock to the small village in droves, hoping to glimpse first-hand this tiny miracle of God. An international journalist has been sent to cover the spectacle, too. It is into this madness that Lib, a Nightingale-trained English nurse arrives – having been hired to watch over Anna, day and night – to show more determine whether the child is fraud. But as Lib’s young charge wastes away, she cannot but feel compelled to get to the root of why the child may actually be the victim of murder in slow motion. Most distressingly, what of the child’s parents, and of the village doctor and priest? – so imprisoned by their Catholicism that they hope and pray the child is a miracle, or a saint – but fail to encourage her to eat?
Donoghue writes beautifully – The Wonder is cast in that same spare, compelling prose that made Room such a success. Tense and multi-layered, she asks big questions here about faith and about human nature, while at the same time telling a simple, uncomplicated story of two strangers who will transform each other’s lives. Highly recommended.
"None are so blind as those who will not see." (287) show less
Whew. This book was mainly a meditation on faith-- one's personal faith in their world, Irish Catholics' faith in the late 19th century, faith in the nascent sciences of medicine and nursing, and faith in the fragility and strength of human connection. I was breathless on the edge of my seat by the end of a book in which there is actually very little true action in the usual sense of the word.
Donoghue can jump genres effortlessly. But her themes-- the power of our connection to each other (or the evil when those connections are bespoiled by delusion or religion, or when those are the same thing), the simplicity of that power, often untapped-- are common to both this book and "Room" (and "Slammerkin", I think-- I read that one long show more ago).
Whew. This one packs a punch. show less
Donoghue can jump genres effortlessly. But her themes-- the power of our connection to each other (or the evil when those connections are bespoiled by delusion or religion, or when those are the same thing), the simplicity of that power, often untapped-- are common to both this book and "Room" (and "Slammerkin", I think-- I read that one long show more ago).
Whew. This one packs a punch. show less
Lib Wright is a nurse trained by Florence Nightingale in Scutari during the Crimean War. World-weary after her experiences and tired of fighting to implement Nightingale's teachings back in England, Lib accepts an assignment to travel to central Ireland and watch a single patient: a little girl who claims to have not eaten for four months. Some believe she is a saint, others that she is a fairy changeling, others a fraud. Lib and another nurse, a Catholic nun, are charged with watching to see if the girl is indeed not eating. Days pass, however, and Lib fails to uncover the secret. Could the girl be telling the truth?
This is a story about science and faith, prejudice, superstition, and devotion: devotion to duty, to God, and to show more journalistic truth. Although I was caught up in the story while reading, I found it less satisfying than the author's later works. Everything is set up as polar opposites: English vs Irish, Protestant vs Catholic, science vs religion, the characters are either good or bad, with little blurring of motives. I find such a black and white world less interesting than a more complex rendering. Not my favorite of Donoghue's works. show less
This is a story about science and faith, prejudice, superstition, and devotion: devotion to duty, to God, and to show more journalistic truth. Although I was caught up in the story while reading, I found it less satisfying than the author's later works. Everything is set up as polar opposites: English vs Irish, Protestant vs Catholic, science vs religion, the characters are either good or bad, with little blurring of motives. I find such a black and white world less interesting than a more complex rendering. Not my favorite of Donoghue's works. show less
Real Rating: 3.75* of five, rounded up because the language is so beautiful
The Publisher Says: The Irish Midlands, 1859. An English nurse, Lib Wright, is summoned to a tiny village to observe what some are claiming as a medical anomaly or a miracle - a girl said to have survived without food for months. Tourists have flocked to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell, and a journalist has come down to cover the sensation. The Wonder is a tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: First, read this:
I dislike Author Donoghue's prior success, Room, a lot. I found it cynical and manipulative. I got this book thinking I'd give it a good drubbing and forget this author existed afterward.
The more fool I. This is beautifully written...so was Room...but also acutely observed and compassionately told. It was too long, it was very slow for two-thirds of its length, and it had a very strong anti-religion bias (which I share). More than anything else, I read and read and read to get more of this:
That insight alone was worth five stars! But it came swaddled, hidden, in much too much waffle for me to give even close to all five stars. show less
The Publisher Says: The Irish Midlands, 1859. An English nurse, Lib Wright, is summoned to a tiny village to observe what some are claiming as a medical anomaly or a miracle - a girl said to have survived without food for months. Tourists have flocked to the cabin of eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell, and a journalist has come down to cover the sensation. The Wonder is a tale of two strangers who transform each other's lives, a psychological thriller, and a story of love pitted against evil.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: First, read this:
A fast didn't go fast; it was the slowest thing there was. Fast meant a door shut fast,show more
firmly. A fastness, a fortress. To fast was to hold fast to emptiness, to say no and no and no again.
–and–
How could the child bear not just the hunger, but the boredom? The rest of humankind used meals to divide the day, Lib realized—as reward, as entertainment, the chiming of an inner clock. For Anna, during this watch, each day had to pass like one endless moment.
I dislike Author Donoghue's prior success, Room, a lot. I found it cynical and manipulative. I got this book thinking I'd give it a good drubbing and forget this author existed afterward.
The more fool I. This is beautifully written...so was Room...but also acutely observed and compassionately told. It was too long, it was very slow for two-thirds of its length, and it had a very strong anti-religion bias (which I share). More than anything else, I read and read and read to get more of this:
An obsession, a mania, Lib supposed it could be called. A sickness of the mind. Hysteria, as that awful doctor had named it? Anna reminded Lib of a princess under a spell in a fairy tale. What could restore the girl to ordinary life? Not a prince. A magical herb from the world's end? Some shock to jolt a poisoned bite of apple out of her throat? No, something simple as a breath of air: reason. What if Lib shook the girl awake this very minute and said, Come to your senses!
But that was part of the definition of madness, Lib supposed, the refusal to accept that one was mad. Standish's wards were full of such people.
Besides, could children ever be considered quite of sound mind? Seven was counted the age of reason, but Lib's sense of seven-year-olds was that they still brimmed over with imagination. Children lived to play. Of course they could be put to work, but in spare moments they took their games as seriously as lunatics did their delusions. Like small gods, children formed their miniature worlds out of clay, or even just words. To them, the truth was never simple.
That insight alone was worth five stars! But it came swaddled, hidden, in much too much waffle for me to give even close to all five stars. show less
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ThingScore 42
Historical fiction can give us rare insight into lives we might never have imagined, beliefs we could not otherwise have understood. The believability is what engages us, and this requires that a story retain some of the mysterious quality of real life: the inexplicable suffering, the ineffability. The Wonder wanders away from this and into the realm of happy-ever-after. In this it is not so show more wondrous after all. show less
added by rodneyvc
After making my way through several recent novels written in tiresome hey-look-at-me prose (Emma Cline’s “The Girls” comes to mind), “The Wonder” arrived as a welcome relief. Donoghue’s prose is as sturdy and serviceable as a good pair of brogans, but never nondescript...After making my way through several recent novels written in tiresome hey-look-at-me prose (Emma Cline’s show more “The Girls” comes to mind), “The Wonder” arrived as a welcome relief. Donoghue’s prose is as sturdy and serviceable as a good pair of brogans, but never nondescript..Even less palatable is the distracting romance Donoghue loads onto the second half of her tale..These are flaws, but not fatal ones. For the most part, “The Wonder” is a fine, fact-based historical novel, an old-school page turner (I use the phrase without shame). show less
added by vancouverdeb
Emma Donoghue leaves little to Wonder about in the plot of her latest novel..Clever and seductive as its premise is, the novel is ultimately marred by the explanatory overwriting that has sometimes affected Donoghue’s work in the past. Donoghue’s prolificacy extends not just to books (she’s written nearly 20) but to the page: cudgel-like repetition is too often used as a means of show more emphasis. That, combined with too many ponderous nudges and winks, means there’s little we don’t see coming from early on. Plot-wise, there’s little to wonder about in The Wonder. show less
added by vancouverdeb
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Author Information
42+ Works 34,539 Members
Emma Donoghue was born on October 24, 1969 in Dublin, Ireland. She received her BA degree from the University College Dublin and PhD in English from University of Cambridge. Her first novel was Stir. Her next novel was Hood which won the 1997 American Library Association's Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual Book Award for Literature. Her novel Slammerkin show more was a finalist in the 2001 Irish Times Irish Literature Prize for Fiction. The Sealed Letter, published in 2008, is a work of historical fiction. This work was the joint winner of the 2009 Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Fiction. She continued writing several award winning novels including Room which was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in September 2010. Some of her other works include Astray, Three and a Half Deaths, and Frog Music. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Some Editions
Awards and Honors
Awards
Distinctions
The Guardian Book of the Day (2016-09-23)
The Guardian Book of the Day (2016-08-30)
Work Relationships
Has the adaptation
Common Knowledge
- Canonical title
- The Wonder
- Original publication date
- 2016
- People/Characters
- Elizabeth "Lib" Wright; Anna Mary O'Donnell; Rosaleen O'Donnell; Malachy O'Donnell; Sister Michael; Father Thaddeus (show all 16); Dr. McBrearty; William Byrne; Kitty; Maggie Ryan; Dr. Standish; Patrick "Pat" Mary O'Donnell; John Flynn; Mr. Ryan; Sir Otway Blackett; Florence Nightingale
- Important places
- Athlone, Ireland (County Westmeath and County Roscommon)
- Related movies
- The Wonder (2022 | IMDb)
- Epigraph
- nurse
to suckle an infant
to bring up a child
to take care of the sick
watch
to observe
to guard someone, as a keeper
to be awake, as a sentinel
a division of the night
fast
to abstain from food
a period of fasting
fixed, enclosed, secure, fortified
constant, steadfast, obstinate
vigil
a devotional observance
an occasion of keeping awake for a purpose
a watch kept on the eve of a festival
shift
a change, an alteration
a period of working time
an expedient, means to an end
a movement, a beginning - Dedication
- For our daughter, Una, an old Irish blessing:
Nar mille an sioc do chuid pratai,
Go raibh duilleoga do chabaiste slan o chnuimheanna.
May there be no frost on your potatoes,
nor worms in your cabba... (show all)ge. - First words
- The journey was no worse than she expected.
- Quotations
- Everybody was a repository of secrets.
Clearly the Irish Midlands were a depression where wet pooled, the little circle in a saucer.
Another roofless cabin now, turned away from the road, its gabled walls accusing the sky.
The almost speechless nun; Lib should have guessed. Strange how they took the names of male saints, as if giving up womanhood itself.
Buildings turned different ways, giving one another the cold shoulder.
"Just as Sister says," the priest answered, "if we offer up our suffering in a generous spirit to be set to another's account."
Lib pictured a gigantic ledger filled with inky debits and credits. (show all 7)
Fate was faceless, life arbitrary, a tale told by an idiot. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)And Wilkie, looking down to meet the child's eyes, then back at Eliza, asked, "Shall we begin? "
- Original language
- English
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