Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Dec 2019
400 pages
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publication Information
A sweeping and turbulent drama about the anxieties of postwar Britain, where one strong and inspirational young woman looks to find her place, no matter the cost.
Sometimes, the truth lies in fiction
It's hard to be an American girl in 1957. Especially when your dad's job means you have to move four thousand miles from home. Especially if you'd rather play baseball than wear a dress. Especially if you see your mom fraying a little more from anxiety each day. And especially if being five minutes older means you have to protect your fragile twin brother.
Still, Hedy Delaney loves her family, and she's trying to make the best of her new life on a U.S. airbase in England. After all, her dad's a war hero, her mother's a beauty, and her brother's a brainiac who writes moving stories about space travel.
Then one tragic day, the unforeseen occurs and all three are ripped away, leaving Hedy alone with countless questions. What really happened on the airbase? What went on behind military closed doors? What were the secrets that could never be told? And how could any of it have led to her family's destruction?
In her search for the truth, Hedy turns to a story her brother began months before he died. Deciding to finish what her brother started, Hedy begins to piece together what happened to her family. But whether she's ready for what she'll discover is another matter entirely.
A sweeping and turbulent family drama, The Wonderful asks whether writing fiction can uncover fact, and if it's ever better to let the truth remain hidden.
Sometimes, it's safer not to finish what you've started.
"Set against a historical backdrop that will surprise many readers, Sarginson's novel movingly captures the private and at times painful evolution of a resilient and inventive protagonist." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Sarginson's writing propels you forward with its strong characterization and quiet beauty...A gripping and devastating tale of a family torn apart by secrets, war, and human brutality." - Kirkus Reviews
"An intense and brooding read, with a brilliantly claustrophobic sense of place." - Sunday Mirror (UK)
"A gripping and emotional story which, although set in a past era, has chilling implications for the present day. The Wonderful is an engrossing read with endearing characters thrust into traumatic circumstances." - Lisa Ballantyne, author of The Guilty One and Redemption Road
"Stunning writing and wonderful, nuanced characterization. I was hooked into this story." - Rosamund Lupton, author of The Quality of Silence
This information about The Wonderful was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Saskia Sarginson holds an M.A. in creative writing and a B.A. in English literature from Cambridge University. Before becoming a full-time author, she was a health and beauty editor on women's magazines, a ghostwriter, and a copywriter and script editor. She lives in south London with her partner and four children.
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