The Wonder / Emma Donoghue / 291 pages

The author of this novel also wrote the novel "Room".  This story takes place in Ireland in the mid 1800s.  Anna O'Donnel is an eleven year old girl that is said not to have eaten anything for four months with no affect to her health.  The village forms a committee to prove that this miracle is true.  They hire two nurses from outside the community as "watchers" to monitor Anna 24 hours a day for two weeks to prove that Anna is not eating anything.  Lib Wright is a young English nurse that is hired as one of the "watchers".  She has been trained by Florence Nightingale.  The story is slow paced and was hard to stick with at first, but picked up and I enjoyed finishing it.  The author did a good job making the reader feel what life was like in Ireland in this time period.