Play Book Tag discussion

The Wonder – Emma Donoghue
Digital audiobook performed by Kate Lock.
3.5***

In August 1859 a report of an 11-year-old girl who has lived without any food for four months is causing quite the sensation. Is she a fraud? Could she be a “living wonder”? The town physician proposes a scientific watch, employing two nurses unknown to the town to carefully watch over the child for a period of two weeks. One is a nun, Sister Michael; the other a nurse trained by Florence Nightingale, Elizabeth “Lib” Wright, a 25-year-old widow.

Lib is the narrator and she struggles to understand the family, the town, the physician, the priest, and most importantly, Anna, the child she’s been hired to watch. Lib is English, and an Anglican. She’s unfamiliar with the beliefs of the Catholic Church and finds it difficult to understand the Irish brogue at times. She views the family, and villagers, as ignorant and superstitious. But she sets out to methodically observe and record Anna’s condition and, in order to do so, she also tries to gain the girl’s confidence. Her medical training tells her that it is not possible for anyone to live without any sustenance. And as the week passes, she notes the child’s deterioration. As the nurse’s eyes are opened to what has happened in the family and how Anna perceives her fast in terms of her religious beliefs, Lib’s personal mission changes from one of pure scientific observation to trying to save this girl’s life.

Her eyes are opened initially by a journalist who has traveled to the village to report on the phenomenon, or more accurately to unveil the fraud. William Byrne befriends Mrs. Wright and finagles a way to casually meet Anna, “just to see for myself.” And what he sees is a child starving to death. The question is “why?”

And the only person who can answer that is Anna (and perhaps her mother). Anna may not have much education, but she is clearly intelligent and curious and learns quickly. She seems to be a quick judge of character and I really enjoyed the conversations between Lib and Anna. But Anna is so steadfast in her faith, in her beliefs in the redemptive power of prayer, that getting to the underlying truth of what led her to undertake this fast is difficult at best. I was as stunned as Lib to discover (view spoiler)[Anna’s secret, and furious with her mother and her priest for colluding to keep it a secret (hide spoiler)].

In the course of the novel Donoghue explores issues of faith, belief, guilt, abuse, family dysfunction, social mores and the role of the Roman Catholic Church and her priests in protecting (or not) children. I had to remind myself a few times that the time frame of the work is the mid-19th century. Definitely a thought-provoking book, and I think it would result in a great book-group discussion.

Kate Lock does a fine job of voicing the audiobook, however …. Her Irish brogue is so thick in places that I had difficulty making out the dialogue. Thank heavens I had the text available. Despite Lock’s skill as a voice artist, I do not recommend listening to this book.

LINK to my review