It’s utterly marvellous to see Wonderland appear on end-of-year ‘Best of 2025’ lists. Thank you to the readers and thinkers and writers and editors and booksellers and reviewers who put these lists together, and the publishers who make the books happen (in the case of Wonderland, it’s the wonderful The Cuba Press).
“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 also among The Women’s Bookshop Faves & Raves of 2025; “These are the books that need to be beside your bed.”