The Wonder

Emma Donaghue

Picador/MacMillan

Otago Daily Times, December 10th

Although a much-overused truism that truth is stranger than fiction, Emma Donoghue’s novels tap into rich veins of historical fact that in every bit as interesting as the stories that she weaves from them.

Her latest novel, The Wonder, deals with the phenomenon of ‘fasting girls’, whose apparent ability to exist on nothing but air for extended periods of time, were regarded as scientific or religious wonders and often capitalised upon by their families or communities as a source of revenue and fame.

The story is told through the eyes of Englishwoman Elizabeth (Lib) Wright, one of two nurses summoned to a small village in the centre of Ireland to observe an eleven-year-old girl, Anna, who is supposedly alive and thriving despite going for months without food.  Their objective is to observe her 24h a day for a fortnight to confirm that she is indeed living without sustenance, and Lib, trained in Crimea under Florence Nightingale to approach her job with objectivity and scientific rigour, is certain it will take only a few days to expose the girl’s fraud.

Although Lib soon determines the source of the ‘manna from heaven’ Anna claims to have been sustained by, it soon becomes clear that the girl herself believes her own story and, rather than cease her fast, is determined to intensify it. As the days progress and she becomes frail, Lib begs for the watch to be called off and the girl persuaded to eat. But Anna’s parents refuse to intervene, the committee who employ her insist she see her job through to the end and, in desperation, Lib decides to take matters into her own hands.

From a psychological and historical standpoint, the novel is fascinating. It is peppered with details of social and domestic life that highlight the grinding poverty of rural Ireland in the years immediately after the famine and examine the motives of its actors. These range from the reasons behind Anna’s self-imposed penitential fast to Lib’s own emotional reaction to it, driven as much by the death of the daughter that refused to suckle at her breast as by professional concern for her patient.

But by choosing to present everything through Lib’s privileged English eyes, Donoghue has committed herself to a narrative that can come across as condescending and simplistic. Although she grudgingly recognises the dilemma Anna’s parents face (one recognisable by anybody who has dealt with an anorexic child), Lib is very clear that they have abdicated their parental responsibilities and in so doing justifies her own intervention.

She also regards the majority of the Irish she meets as ignorant, superstitions peasants, ideologically blinded to reality. This tells us much about Lib as any of her actions, and she is overall a sympathetic and admirable character, but it can at times make for uncomfortable reading.

That said, Donoghue, (herself Irish) has never shied away from difficult topics, and like its predecessors The Wonder is a gripping and ultimately satisfying read.

https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/books/fascinating-read-always-daring-author