The Wonder by Emma Donoghue

This is the first book I’ve read by Emma Donoghue but it certainly won’t be the last. I immediately connected with the main character in this story, Lib Wright, a young nurse with a tragic past who trained with Florence Nightingale herself. Her voice is strong and distinctive, with a superb attention to the detail, as you’d expect from a nurse, caring, yet strict.

The premise of the story also hooked me from the start: in rural Ireland, an eleven-year-old girl seems to be able to survive, month by month, without consuming any food, her only nourishment being ‘prayer’. Lib Wright is brought from England to investigate.

The mystery is an enticing one and keeps you reading. The most horrific part is not the reveal of how Anna (the Irish girl) is surviving or why she has decided to fast in the first place. The real horror, to me, was the fact that this story is actually based on an array of different cases of young women, such as Anna, who did similar things throughout their lives – always under the excuse of religion, of wanting to feel closer to God. It often ended with their deaths.