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A review by jesshindes
The Wonder by Emma Donoghue
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I picked up a second-hand copy of The Wonder because I saw a great review for the film of the novel, which is currently screening at festivals and which stars the glorious Florence Pugh. Anyway, I'm very glad I did because I really loved this one: it's the kind of historical fiction I aspire to write, which makes sense because Emma Donoghue's account of how she comes by her books meshes really closely with the way I like to do things. She finds an idea, something weird in history, and then works out from that. How would it feel? What would it really be like? In this case, the idea is the 'fasting girls', a phenomenon that apparently persisted from the 16th to 20th century, in which devoutly religious adolescents claimed to be able to survive without eating. Lib Wright, the protagonist of Donoghue's novel, is an English nurse trained by Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, summoned to rural Ireland to watch over one of these girls: a child named Anna who says that she hasn't eaten for four months.
I found Lib a very compelling protagonist. She's a presence from the first page, but Donoghue has the skill to reveal her backstory bit by bit without ever making this slow reveal feel artificial. The traces of Lib's secrets run through her thoughts and actions from the beginning, and I found that I had usually guessed the truth before it was stated explicitly. This isn't a bad thing; it's a sign that Donoghue's writing feels rounded and real. There's also, clearly, an external mystery at the heart of this novel which is unpacked in parallel with Lib's personal story. How does Anna survive? A little like the Essex Serpent (another neo-Victorian novel I loved) this is partly a story about the conflict between faith and science, with Lib a staunch non-believer who initially takes on her task with a healthy scepticism, but who finds her initial judgements upended as she and Anna become closer. The child's devotion perplexes and challenges her, and she's forced to take a hard look at herself, her situation, and her future.
Without giving anything away, I think Donoghue's novel benefits from the fact that as readers, we don't know at the outside what order of reality the book is operating in; that is, we don't know whether the world we've entered is one in which a miracle is possible. It adds to the force of the mystery and puts us in a position closely akin to Lib's. More importantly, though, I found the resolution she gives us - to Anna's story and to Lib's - satisfying on both a narrative and a character level. I'm still struggling with how to write historical fiction without making it really sprawling and unwieldy. Donoghue makes it look easy.
I found Lib a very compelling protagonist. She's a presence from the first page, but Donoghue has the skill to reveal her backstory bit by bit without ever making this slow reveal feel artificial. The traces of Lib's secrets run through her thoughts and actions from the beginning, and I found that I had usually guessed the truth before it was stated explicitly. This isn't a bad thing; it's a sign that Donoghue's writing feels rounded and real. There's also, clearly, an external mystery at the heart of this novel which is unpacked in parallel with Lib's personal story. How does Anna survive? A little like the Essex Serpent (another neo-Victorian novel I loved) this is partly a story about the conflict between faith and science, with Lib a staunch non-believer who initially takes on her task with a healthy scepticism, but who finds her initial judgements upended as she and Anna become closer. The child's devotion perplexes and challenges her, and she's forced to take a hard look at herself, her situation, and her future.
Without giving anything away, I think Donoghue's novel benefits from the fact that as readers, we don't know at the outside what order of reality the book is operating in; that is, we don't know whether the world we've entered is one in which a miracle is possible. It adds to the force of the mystery and puts us in a position closely akin to Lib's. More importantly, though, I found the resolution she gives us - to Anna's story and to Lib's - satisfying on both a narrative and a character level. I'm still struggling with how to write historical fiction without making it really sprawling and unwieldy. Donoghue makes it look easy.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Eating disorder and Child death
Moderate: Child abuse and Sexual assault