My normal genre to read is cosy crime sprinkled with humour, but as soon as I read the blurb for Louise Beech’s new novel, I was immediately transported back to my teenage years. I’d been allowed to go into town on my own to the library and choose my own books. I picked out biographies of Marilyn Monroe, and shut myself away in my room for days, reading from cover to cover.
Wonderful is a fictional reimagining of the night Marilyn Monroe died, and what came after. After a vision of the Virgin Mary appears to Marilyn, she takes off, abandoning her life as she knew it, seeking a greater purpose, to find out who she truly is rather than what everyone wants her to be.
Marilyn is depicted as being all about paying attention to signs and omens. In a story set 54 years later – or 2 Saturn’s returns if you’re also into symbolism – 36 year old Flora in Hull also has a visit from the Virgin Mary, which has an equally profound impact on her troubled life.
Throughout the novel, we switch between Marilyn’s timeline and Flora’s, and we follow the two women as they navigate life following the visitation.
It’s an empowering story of finding who you truly are, and I cried so much I could barely read the end through the tears. I can’t tell you the last book that had such an emotional impact, and it’s a book I’ll be thinking about for a very long time.
I have to say, as a reviewer, it’s handy when the author gives you your review directly in the title. It’s a truly wonderful read.
Thank you to Random Things Tours and Louise Beech for the opportunity to read and review. While I was gifted an eArc to review, I immediately went and bought my own copy to keep and cherish and revisit.
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