Summary, Analysis & Review of Emma Donoghue's The Wonder by Instaread

By Instaread Summaries

Summary, Analysis & Review of Emma Donoghue’s The Wonder by Instaread

 

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The Wonder by Emma Donoghue is a novel about Elizabeth “Lib” Wright, a British nurse whose wits, beliefs, and compassion are tested during an unusual assignment in r

• Language: English
• Publisher: Instaread, Inc
• Release date: Feb 22, 2019
• ISBN: 9781683785804

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Summary

The Wonder by Emma Donoghue is a novel about Elizabeth Lib Wright, a British nurse whose wits, beliefs, and compassion are tested during an unusual assignment in rural Ireland circa 1859. Lib’s charge is Anna O’Donnell, an 11-year-old who allegedly hasn’t had a bite to eat in four months. Dubious of this so-called miracle, Lib has just two weeks to uncover her young patient’s secrets and come to terms with her own difficult past.

Lib, who trained under Florence Nightingale, is usually based in London. She arrives in Ireland with little information about her short assignment other than the knowledge that she will be well paid. The details of the contract were arranged through Matron, her boss at the hospital. The first surprise is Lib’s lodgings, which aren’t with a local family as she expected. After a long journey that involves two trains, a ship, and a horse-drawn cart, she’s deposited at the town inn.

Soon thereafter Dr. McBrearty arrives. He’s Anna’s physician and a member of the committee that hired Lib. He reveals Lib’s strange assignment: she’s to watch young Anna to confirm that the girl eats no food. Lib finds the very premise of her assignment ludicrous because no one can live without food for four months. Dr. McBrearty knows that it sounds like a hoax, but he’s so convinced that Anna’s fast is a miracle that he’s written up her case for a national