The Wonder of All Things
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3.9 • 29 Ratings
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
From the New York Times bestselling author of Hell of a Book, A READ WITH JENNA TODAY SHOW BOOK CLUB PICK!
On an ordinary day, at an air show like that in any small town across the country, a plane crashes into a crowd of spectators. After the dust clears, a thirteen-year-old girl named Ava is found huddled beneath a pocket of rubble with her best friend, Wash. He is injured and bleeding, and when Ava places her hands over him, his wounds disappear.
Ava has an unusual gift: she can heal others of their physical ailments. Until the air show tragedy, her gift was a secret. Now the whole world knows, and suddenly people from all over the globe begin flocking to her small town, looking for healing and eager to catch a glimpse of The Miracle Child. But Ava's unique ability comes at a great cost, and as she grows weaker with each healing, she soon finds herself having to decide just how much she's willing to give up in order to save the ones she loves most.
Elegantly written, deeply intimate and emotionally astute, The Wonder of All Things is an unforgettable story and a poignant reminder of life's extraordinary gifts.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this follow-up to his bestselling novel The Returned, about the miraculous reappearance of the dead that became a television series (ABC's Resurrection), Mott returns to miracles this time with the story of young Ava Campbell, who saves the life of her best friend, Wash, in the aftermath of tragic air show accident. Thanks to a cell phone camera on the scene, millions witness the spectacular feat of Wash's near-fatal wounds disappearing. Mott again transforms a small, peaceful town into a media maelstrom center as thousands descend on Stone Temple, N.C., for the chance to view or, more urgently, be healed by the astonishing Ava. A televangelist, Reverend Isaiah Brown, arrives to take advantage of the situation and forms an uneasy alliance with Ava's father, Macon, the town sheriff. In an unfortunate touch of melodrama, Ava is increasingly debilitated every time she heals someone, and the book turns into a Jodi Picoult type discourse on the rights of a healer threatened by her own powers versus the rights of those who wish, and perhaps deserve, to be healed. An overabundance of side stories Isaiah's complicated relationship with his damaged brother; Macon's second wife Carmen's difficult pregnancy; Wash's troubled relationship with his newly returned father tarnish the novel. But Mott shines in telling of the sweet, developing love between Ava and Wash.
Customer Reviews
Disappointing
Characters are so poorly developed, lack common sense, and shallow as to be unrelatable.