![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/TheWonder.jpg?resize=250%2C404\")
<\/a>One review described this book as, \u2018Absorbing, truthful, beautiful\u2019. Another as, \u2018Powerful, compulsively readable.\u2019 One member of our book-club described it as \u2013 \u2018Dark, dismal, disturbing.\u2019<\/p>\nIt is fair to say that most of us found the book compulsively readable rather than beautiful!<\/p>\n
The story is set in post-famine Ireland and follows an English nurse, Lib and an Irish nun who have been commissioned to watch over, rather than \u2018nurse\u2019, a supposedly miraculous 11-year-old girl, Anna, who has survived without sustenance for four months. It appears that certain local people wish to claim her as some kind of miracle. Lib and the nun are to provide independent evidence. There is an unexpected ending to the story.<\/p>\n
As with Emma Donahue\u2019s most famous novel, \u2018Room\u2019, most of this story is set in one dark room in Anna\u2019s house and indeed the impression of most of the novel is of darkness; the bedroom, the weather, the peat, the lack of artificial light – an old lamp has to be requested in order to ensure surveillance during the night as well as the day.<\/p>\n
A film has been made of the story, and this too gives an impression of general darkness in the way it was filmed.<\/p>\n
The story is perhaps most about faith versus science and certainly generated a very lively discussion on many fronts. Overall, the group scored it at 7.<\/p>\n
\n
\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “The Wonder” By Emma Donahue One review described this book as, \u2018Absorbing, truthful, beautiful\u2019. Another as, \u2018Powerful, compulsively readable.\u2019 One member of our book-club described it as \u2013 \u2018Dark, dismal, disturbing.\u2019 It is fair to say that most of us found the book compulsively readable rather than beautiful! The story is set in post-famine Ireland and follows an English […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[435,41],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6cWjO-17066","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3525,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3525","url_meta":{"origin":17066,"position":0},"title":"June Books Review","author":"Alan Williams","date":"28th July 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 \u00a0 We had no set book this month, so we all chose a good read, some very successfully, others not quite so. The one 10\/10 was by Rohinton Mistry \u201cA Fine Balance\u201d \u2013 an exceptional novel about India during The Emergency. (We as a group had read this author\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14613,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14613","url_meta":{"origin":17066,"position":1},"title":"“Akin ” by Emma Donohue","author":"Alan Williams","date":"7th September 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Akin \" by Emma Donohue A retired New York professor\u2019s life is thrown into chaos, when he takes his great-nephew to the French Riviera, in hopes of uncovering his own mother\u2019s wartime secrets. Akin is a tender tale of love, loss and family, from Emma Donahue, the international best selling\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16239,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16239","url_meta":{"origin":17066,"position":2},"title":"“Into the Storm ” by Cecelia Ahearn","author":"Alan Williams","date":"23rd October 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Into the Storm \" by Cecelia Ahearn Cecelia Ahern is an Irish novelist, known for her works like PS, I Love You; Where Rainbows End; and If You Could See Me Now. It is a wild night in the middle of December, and GP Enya is crouched\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for November 2025"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for November 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=427"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/ShelfBookNov2025.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3202,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=3202","url_meta":{"origin":17066,"position":3},"title":"The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st May 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty The Doughty Family lives on the oddly named Scribbly Gum Island, a short ferry ride from Sydney Australia, and so called after the Scribbly Gum Eucalyptus trees that grow there. The Island and the family becomes famous because 70 years previously, teenage sisters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Wenvoe Page Turners"","block_context":{"text":"Wenvoe Page Turners","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=41"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12902,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12902","url_meta":{"origin":17066,"position":4},"title":"“Taste” by Stanley Tucci","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"OFF THE SHELF \"Taste\" by Stanley Tucci \u00a0 From award-winning actor and food obsessive, Stanley Tucci, comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen. Before Stanley Tucci became a household name with The Devil Wears Prada, The Hunger Games, and the perfect Negroni, he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Off The Shelf"","block_context":{"text":"Off The Shelf","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=347"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16578,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16578","url_meta":{"origin":17066,"position":5},"title":"Page Turners Reading List","author":"Alan Williams","date":"29th January 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Page Turners Reading List. \u00a0 Secret Santa did an excellent job in giving preloved books to all the Page Turners. At the first meeting of the year, everyone was asked to provide a brief synopsis of their book (with no spoilers) and a recommendation for its inclusion (or exclusion)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Items for February 2026"","block_context":{"text":"New Items for February 2026","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=430"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17066"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17066"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17066\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17071,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17066\/revisions\/17071"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/01\/PageTurners.jpg?resize=400%2C79\")
<\/p>\n