Mar 23, 2024jcamenga rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
My wife and I became enamored with this story after seeing a televised version on Netflix. The author writes a fiction piece based upon nearly 50 cases of Fasting Girls between the 16th and 20th centuries. The central character, Anna, 11,…
Oct 28, 2023PrairieSouls rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
What an amazing tale. The story really only covers a two week period during the watch assigned to the fasting girl, but it is a page turner! The reader wants to know what happens to the girl and who put her up to this. Well paced and just…
Jul 01, 2023CareyMacaulay rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Like "Room", the other book I have read by Emma Donoghue, "The Wonder" is primarily set in a microcosm: a small bedroom inside a poor cottage in Ireland, 7 years after the potato famine. Lib, an English widow and Nightingale nurse, and…
G and M 100 2022 Recommended by Menaka Raman - Wilms. One of my all time favorites.
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Sep 19, 2022LanaMMooew rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
I loved this book! The author manages to write this in a way that's slow but never boring. I had so many theories about the ending and she keeps you guessing throughout. I fell in love with the characters and the setting!
Feb 23, 2022SeymourviaElizabeth rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Wow! This book is a haunter! Lib is hired to observe an 11 year old girl named Anna who has purportedly not eaten anything for 4 months. Lib is a Nightingale nurse and she will do 8 hour shifts of observation. Then a Sister of Mercy will…
Jul 16, 2021stephanieanastasia rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
The beginning was a bit slow but I didn't find it hard to read. I was surprised by the fast paced ending, the last quarter of the book had me stressed out haha! I think I would have liked to have the end of the book drawn out a bit more,…
Aug 26, 2020tinlou rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
Very much enjoyed this book, as I do most of Emma Donoghue's writing. As a Catholic of Irish descent, it was certainly an eye-opening account of a time and place that I had very little knowledge of. I don't know how authentic this little…
Jan 15, 2020LadyDi52 rated this title 0.5 out of 5 stars
I enjoyed some of this author's other books...but this one is so boring it's almost as if there isn't a plot...maybe it gets better but I've sat down with it 2 or 3 times and I just can't get into it. There's also this English derision …
Dec 19, 2019StrangelyExuberant rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
A story where religion and science meet to verse each other as the truth is hunted for. The stakes? The life of an eleven year old girl. Lib was called in to conduct a "watch" with Sister Michael to confirm whether or not an eleven year…
Sep 22, 2019annegirl37 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
In my opinion, Emma Donoghue writes some of the most well-researched, evocative historical fiction I've ever read. This was not my favorite book of hers, but it was one of the few books this year as a new mom that kept me engaged enough to…
Mar 25, 2019VaughanPLDavidB rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
In mid 19th century Ireland, Nightingale-trained nurse Lib Wright is hired as part of a two week watch on a girl who has been purportedly going without food for over four months. She is understandably skeptical of the claim, but over the…
If you're a fan of Emma Donoghue's bestselling novel Room, you will love The Wonder, a thrilling page-turner that keeps you guessing until the final pages. Lib is a nurse trained by Florence Nightingale. Her expertise is requested by the…
Jun 23, 2018PimaLib_ChristineR rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I'll say what I can about this book, but I think the best review is Stephen King's in The New York Times of September 27, 2016, and I would recommend it highly.
Lib Wright is an English nurse, recently returned from the Crimean War,…
Jun 04, 2018finn75 rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
I did enjoy this work of historical fiction that is based on real occurrences. I did get a bit sick of the dumb Irish/silly Catholic thing after awhile. I may be a bit sensitive but the common sense Englishwoman coming in to save the day…
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The Wonder