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Anna O’Donnell is an 11-year-old girl living in Ireland in the 1830’s. She claims not to have eaten food for the past four months and is living on manna from heaven. Religion plays an important presence in this story. of view. The importance of kindness is a central theme in the novel. We see the positive impact that choosing kindness can have on everyone's life. Set in a small Irish village where Religion reigns high, Abby is labeled as special, the chosen one. But Libby doesn't share the same faith-she is determined to expose the fraud. Through her time spent with the family, priest and other 'gawkers' who come to see this special child, she soon finds that there is no one who has Abby's best interests at heart.Lib's increased frustration was one I shared - a need to discover the truth. A need to solve this simple but baffling mystery. Between the religious fanaticism of 19th Century Ireland and its infuriating sexism, I got so caught up in everything. And I think so much of it comes down to one thing: atmosphere. Eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell has become somewhat of a tourist attraction. A miracle girl who has apparently survived for four months without eating any food and who according to the local doctor is otherwise healthy. Meanwhile, Via's best friend Miranda has started avoiding her, for reasons unknown to Via. Both audition for the lead in their school play, but Miranda ultimately gets the part, with Via as her understudy. On opening night, Miranda sees Via's entire family in the audience and feigns illness so that Via can take her place for the evening. After the show, the two reconcile. Hmmmm . . . well, not too sure about this one. I enjoyed it okay, but it made me uncomfortable and I wasn’t satisfied with the plot progression. I am not sure that I have a great way to explain it other than it is a “feeling” I have.

Lib had a dizzying sense that time could fall into itself like the embers. That in these dim huts nothing had changed since the age of the Druids and nothing ever would. What was that line in the hymn they’d sung at Lib’s school? The night is dark, and I am far from home. My name is August. I won’t describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.” Overall I'm glad The Wonder is a fast read because I probably could have lived my life without reading this one. I am not impressed. I am disappointed since this is the first book I've read by this author other than room, which I loved. The only positive thing I can really say is that the overall premise is intriguing and there are a couple of thought provoking parts that I liked.Lib Wright was a nurse alongside Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War, escaping her own personal issues. But after the war, even for a Nightingale Nurse, life is monotonous; she is treated with disdain by her supervisors and fellow nurses, and is left to little more than menial work. But when an unusual opportunity for work comes her way, she jumps at the chance.

Lib believes firmly that this child must be being secretly fed. Receiving only spoonfuls of water a day, how can she have survived for this long? The tension escalates as Lib befriends a young male journalist from Dublin who wishes to engage in conversations about this "Fasting Girl". Lib is caught up in a web of trying to sustain her professionalism, and at the same time, give in to the maddening desire to lay out all the irregular pebbles of stone before her. Creo que la autora ha conseguido una novela que roza la perfección, describiendo el ambiente opresivo tanto de la familia como de la comunidad de forma llana pero muy convincente. Me he sentido allí, acompañando los turnos de vigilancia de nuestra enfermera inglesa. También está muy bien reflejado el resentimiento mutuo entre ingleses e irlandeses, vecinos mal avenidos pero condenados a entenderse. El tema que subyace en el relato dará para muchas controversias, pero ED ha sabido mantenerse a una distancia prudentemente equidistante entre ambas corrientes. I absolutely needed to know what was happening. I needed to know whether something otherworldly was at play, whether this child was being betrayed by those she should have been able to trust most, or whether she herself was behind it. I was pulled in by the atmosphere, by the mystery, and by the sexism that saw the local doctors dismissing Lib's opinions and cutting her off mid-sentence. Modern nursing was a very new thing at the time of this novel's setting and nurses were generally looked down upon by doctors, considered capable of watching and cleaning patients, but not offering a prognosis.The Wonder is a beautifully written novel that takes place in the mid-nineteenth century in a small Irish village. It’s easily one of my favorite books of 2016. Anna surrounds herself with the comfort of holy cards and Scripture. The waft of Irish folklore and the wee people traipse in and out as Lib tries to make sense of it all. Not only is Ireland itself so foreign to Lib, but its culture, religious beliefs, and customs perplex her even more. Julian pretends to be nice around adults, but he bullies many of his classmates. He starts a cruel game against Auggie called "the Plague" and gets lots of students at school to join in.