The Wonders (Paddy O’Reilly, Affirm)

After a failed heart transplant, Leon is the world’s first recipient of an entirely mechanical heart, engineered and implanted in secret. He is recruited by a Texan entrepreneur to join two fellow modern medical wonders: a woman whose experimental cancer treatment has left her body covered in sheep’s wool, and a performance artist with two functional metal wings installed in his back. Together, the three form a sideshow of superhuman ‘Wonders’, and rapidly gain international fame. Paddy O’Reilly uses this fantastic premise to explore very real contemporary issues of celebrity and privacy. A fascinated public alternately revere and condemn the Wonders for their physical differences. The rise and inevitable fall of these larger-than-life characters creates a compelling picture of the caprices and dangers of modern celebrity. This is a relatively easy read, full of the humour and quick wit that attracted readers to O’Reilly’s previous novel, The Fine Colour of Rust. However, The Wonders also has serious intentions and raises complex themes of otherness and disability. It asks how and why those who differ from the norm are desired or condemned by those who sit comfortably within it. This insight into the private lives of extraordinary people is reminiscent of Sara Gruen’s Water for Elephants, and The Wonders has a similarly broad appeal.

Veronica Sullivan is a bookseller and deputy online editor of Kill Your Darlings

Books+Publishing pre-publication reviews are supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.

Category: Reviews