The Wonder

In Ireland in the latter half of the 19th. century Anna, an 11 year old girl, decides to stop eating. After four months of fasting she is still reasonably healthy, it seems. She is hailed as a miracle but is she truly a saint or is she just a delusional fraud? Sister Michael, a Roman Catholic nun, and Lib Wright, a nurse who served under Florence Nightingale, are employed over a two week period to observe the child and make sure that she isn't secretly being fed by someone. Everything seems to be going well during the first week of the vigil and Lib finds herself almost convinced of this wonder but then the girl starts a rapid decline. The nurses don't have much time to find out why the child stopped eating and why she is suddenly dying, the answers to both questions could be key to saving her.

I'm in two minds about this book but I'm not sure why. It was beautifully written, descriptive but not overly wordy (it couldn't afford to be at 210 pages) and the story was good. It is just that somehow I didn't quite connect. Having said that, I became invested in Annas fate towards the end. It's worth reading but I think it needs some mulling over.