Here’s what writers and reviewers have been saying about Wonderland:
“Lyrical, persuasive alternative history in which Marie Curie recovers in Wellington’s Miramar. Sharp with sensory detail and distinct characters.” —Wonderland is named one of The 100 Best Books of 2025 by NZ Listener
“Wonderland by Tracy Farr is my very best novel of 2025. Who would have believed, until this book stormed its way into our hearts, that a fairground at Miramar attracted thousands every weekend? That’s fact, but who would have believed that famous scientist and Nobel prize winner, Marie Curie, took refuge there with its owners one strange season? Perhaps she did, or perhaps Farr’s riotous imagination simply brought her there. Either way, it’s a lyrical, page turning tour de force.” —Fiona Kidman, quoted in The Spinoff’s The best books of 2025: The people’s choice
“What a wonder this novel is! Tracy Farr makes a brilliant leap of imagination, bringing Marie Curie to New Zealand, through her connection with Sir Ernest Rutherford, for rest and recuperation with a joyous loving family. They run a real amusement park on Miramar Peninsula in Wellington and have bouncing, brainy triplet girls who are such a joy, I wanted to leap into the novel and hug them. Utterly original and life-affirming, this novel shines, like Curie’s radium.” —Carole Beu, An A to Z of The Spinoff’s best books of 2025
“Wonderland … is set very close to where we both happen to live, positioned in a real life amusement park that once flourished near Miramar in the early 20th century. I am filled with wild and savage envy, as Angela Carter once wrote about a fellow writer’s new book, that I hadn’t thought of this first. … Wonderland is about family, grief and loss, redemption, about women living life on their own terms, both poetic and deeply rich in scientific detail, a reflection of Farr’s own background as a noted scientist herself. It’s a masterpiece.” —Fiona Kidman, What I’m Reading: Dame Fiona Kidman, The Post
“Farr is adept at sensory detail, particularly of what lies beneath … Every page is artful. Wonderland‘s narrative voices are distinct and its central lie – Curie’s incognito visit – is utterly persuasive. … Farr makes the fantastical seem plausible and everyday objects – a stick, a bottle, faded shreds of ribbon – conveyors of magic.” —Paula Morris reviews Wonderland for NZ Listener (with extended review in Aotearoa New Zealand Review of Books)
“Farr threads radium-like shimmers of brightness through this narrative, which is often told in fragments, using the alternating voices of various girls and women. … In a flash of one of Farr’s exquisite touches of lyricism, we are given a description of this spectacle from the point of view of Madame Curie the scientist …” —Gail Pittaway reviews Wonderland for The Landfall Tauraka Review
“Wonderland is a novel that honours the resilience of women, the intricacies of sisterhood and the bittersweet beauty of change. Farr deftly explores innocence and loss, and in giving us a story that asks ‘what-if’, shows the power of imagination to reframe the past and reminds us to return humanity to those who have become characters of history.” —Lauren Donald reviews Wonderland for Kete
“… lovely, brief sections of narrative … really build a kind of momentum and they produce this kaleidoscope of perspectives which reflect and refract, skip along, their thoughts very much inside their heads – but it’s also very much a novel of place … and it’s a lovely tip to Wellington, to its sea and its sky, its hills and its weather.” —Louise O’Brien reviews Wonderland for RNZ Nine to Noon
“I think Tracy is an absolute genius writer … Wonderland is an absolute delight … highly original … it’s a book about family, real and found; about women’s work; it’s about striving and persistence; it’s basically about the power of wonder … it’s a really moving book; some sad things happen in it, but it is ultimately magnificently uplifting, absolutely brilliant book, loved it.” —Catherine Robertson lavishes love on Wonderland (and The Hope Fault), talking with Jesse Mulligan on RNZ Afternoons
“I really hope this book smashes the awards next year. … All of this is well written without any sense of the clever self-awareness that sometimes can spoil a crafted book. The story unfolds. The language is lovely, simple but well chosen. … Wonderland might be the name of the amusement park, but there is more wonder in the lives in and around the Loverock household. I thought the whole book was wonderful and I am recommending it to everyone.” —Cristina Sanders reviews Wonderland
“The manuscript won the NZSA Laura Solomon Cuba Press Prize in 2024, and it’s easy to see why; the prize awards new writing of “unique and original vision” and Wonderland fits that to a T. Farr’s writing is magical, lyrical and mesmerising. … Wonderland was a surprise read for me, a slow burn that kept working its way under my skin and has stuck with me long after I read the final pages. A real wonder.” —Rebekah Lyell reviews Wonderland for NZ Booklovers