The Wonder by Emma Donoghue FIC Don

Donoghue's previous book, Room, was a great book and this one was just as intriguing.  It takes place in the mid-1800's in a small Irish village - a place where people put out saucers of milk at night for the fairies.  So it isn't a surprise that they are instant believers when they find out that one of their own seems to be a miracle.  Anna is eleven and she appears to have been surviving for four months with no food and only a few teaspoons of water.  Soon the small cabin becomes a destination for locals and tourists alike.

A group of men decide they want to make sure that it is a miracle and not a hoax.  So they hire two nurses.  One is Lib Wright, an English nurse who had worked with Florence Nightingale, and an Irish nurse who is a nun.   The strategy is to have the women make sure that Anna is under surveillance every minute of the day.  Lib knows that Anna could not possibly be alive without eating for months.  She is sure they will discover how this farce is being pulled off - but after the first week she still has no idea.

I loved the historical background of this novel and the mystery that had to be solved!

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