Other Irish customs are also scrutinised, from the resigned disposition of the people to the conviction that the fairies are behind Anna’s behaviour. This comes to life through Lib’s overt prejudice: “Clearly the Irish Midlands were a depression where wet pooled, the little circle in a saucer.” She is equally cutting on Catholicism, noting of her fellow sentry Sister Michael, “Strange how they took the names of male saints, as if giving up womanhood itself”. In The Wonder she depicts a country barely back on its feet after years of death and starvation. With a PhD in history from Cambridge, much of Donoghue’s back catalogue is in the historical fiction genre. Fans of the Irish-Canadian author will not be surprised by this. Set seven years after the Great Hunger, Anna’s actions take on historical significance. What makes Donoghue’s novel so compelling is not just the skilfully paced mystery, but the choice of post-Famine Ireland as a backdrop. Along the way, there are perhaps too many leading questions and explaining of Anna’s behaviour, but given Lib’s role they are forgivable. Initially acting as watchman, Lib comes to care for her patient and works furiously in the book’s final quarter to see if she can save her. These symptoms are noted with forensic accuracy by an English nurse, Lib Wright, a former Nightingale who has been dispatched to Ireland to determine whether Anna is a fraud or a marvel.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |