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The Wonder

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The Wonder

By: Emma Donoghue
Narrated by: Tara Egan-Langley
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About this listen

A major film from the makers of Normal People and Room, starring Florence Pugh and streaming on Netflix.

'An old-school page turner with crackling intensity' – Stephen King
'Powerful, compulsively readable' – Irish Times

Eleven-year-old Anna O'Donnell stops eating, but remains miraculously alive and well. A nurse, sent to investigate whether she is a fraud, meets a journalist hungry for a story . . .

Set in the Irish Midlands in the 1850s, Emma Donoghue's The Wonder is inspired by numerous European and North American cases of 'fasting girls' between the sixteenth century and the twentieth. A psychological thriller about a child's murder threatening to happen in slow motion before our eyes.

'Fans of Emma Donoghue's first novel Room will not be disappointed with The Wonder' – Red Magazine

 Fiction Genre Fiction Historical Fiction Literary Fiction Psychological Thriller & Suspense Women's Fiction

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Critic reviews

Emma Donoghue's writing is superb alchemy, changing innocence into horror and horror into tenderness (Audrey Niffenegger, author of The Time Traveler's Wife)
Fascinating . . . Like The Turn of the Screw, the novel opens irresistibly, when a young woman with a troubled past gets an enigmatic posting in a remote place . . . Heartbreaking and transcendent and almost religious in itself (Sarah Lyall)
A fine, fact-based historical novel, an old-school page turner . . . Donoghue has written, with crackling intensity, about [spirituality's] power to destroy (Stephen King)
A riveting allegory about the trickle-down effect of trauma
Donoghue mines material that on the face of it appears intractably bleak and surfaces with a powerful, compulsively readable work of fiction
Deliciously gothic
Heartbreaking and transcendent
Fans of Emma Donoghue's first novel Room will not be disappointed with The Wonder . . . a tale of claustrophobic suspense and the intense relationship between a woman and a child
Like [Room], The Wonder explores a dark, insular, and rigidly controlled environment . . . there is more to this mystery than superstitions and local dialect.
Donoghue proves herself endlessly inventive . . . This is the kind of book that will keep you up at night and make you smarter (Julie Buntin)
Ingenious
Lib is a heroine the modern woman can admire
All stars
Most relevant
Though the story was bleak at times, the voice of Tara Egan Langley, soothing and commanding, allowed for safe listening as we were gently carried to a calm, satisfying completion. Tara’s voice range is quite incredible - from tiny Anna all the way to the ships Chaplin. Bravo Emma, Bravo Tara - the perfect team 💛

Storytelling at its best

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I have read other books by Emma Donoghue, and very much enjoyed them. This is my first audible listen to her work and the experience was great from beginning to end. The story is powerful and the characters portrayed fabulously by the narrator who’s abilities to invoke feelings moved me deeply.
I highly recommend the Wonder and look forward to hearing Tara Egan-Langley again.

Wonderful!

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Having recently read the hardback of Emma Donoghue's The Wonder, given all the hype for the film, I was intrigued to experience the narration of same. I wasn't disappointed, Tara Egan-Langley as a narrator transported me to a a new level and gave such an insight to this story, totally captivating me. The audiobook is spellbinding from beginning to end, truly a must. I look forward to hearing more from this insightful narrator. Gemma

The Wonder - Tara Egan-Langley narratir

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Bit slow to get going but an excellent story. Very good narration with gentle Irish accent.

really enjoyed it

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Not a happy read but an interesting look at religion at the heart of Ireland in the late 1800s. It is frightening to think that families may have endured trauma like this and covered up with a veil of piety.

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