Wonderful - Louise Beech - ★★★★.¼
AUTHOR: Louise Beech
GENRE: Contemporary Fiction
PUBLICATION DATE: June 1, 2026
RATING: 4.25 stars.
In a Nutshell: A dual-timeline fiction featuring three women from three different eras. Two of the women are popular names: Mother Mary and Marilyn Monroe. Creative alternate history. Great historical research. Excellent character development. A bit slow but introspective. Realistic themes, some of which might be triggering. (Nothing devious happens on page though.) Not religious or preachy. A *wonderful* option for those looking for unusual storylines.
Plot Preview:
4th August 1962. Hollywood. On the night she should have died, Marilyn Monroe receives an unexpected visitor in her home. The Virgin Mary comes to her with a cryptic message that will end up changing (and saving) her life.
2016. Hull, England. Flora has not had an easy life but does the best she can to survive. The last thing she expects to find in her filthy tenement home is the Virgin Mary bathed in light. She has a message for Flora that involves an immediate change in her situation and the promise of a better future if she does one thing.
What do the two timelines have in common other than Mother Mary’s mysterious appearance? Why did the Virgin Mother appear to these two women who are different from each other in every way?
The story comes to us from the two timelines in the alternating third-person perspectives of Marilyn and Flora.
I have read only one book by this author so far (‘End of Story’ written as Louise Swanson), but I loved it so much that I resolved to read whatever other books of hers I could get my hands on.
Finally after more than three years, I got a chance to return to her writing. While this book is absolutely different from ‘End of Story’ in terms of genre and era, the core focus is still the same: how a person can either allow circumstances to get the better of them or do something to make the desired change. The divine intervention is the surprise element this time.
In my childhood, I owned a book titled “World’s Most Famous Women”. One of the chapters focussed on Marilyn Monroe, and I remember being awed by how ethereal she appeared. At the same time, I was taken aback by her tragic life story and abrupt death. After watching her nail the performance of the clever blonde who pretends to be ditzy to attract the right men in “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes”, I wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t passed away so young.
This book attempts to give Marilyn the ending she didn’t get in real life. It’s a story best discovered by going in blind, so here’s a vague, spoiler-free feedback.
Bookish Yays:
😍 The alternate-history version of Marilyn’s life. How I wish it were real!
😍 Marilyn as a character. Not the version we know but a tender and respectful portrayal of the woman behind the sex symbol.
😍 The historical research into Marilyn’s life. It was good to see actual facts woven in with the fictional elements. I learnt so many new things about her!
😍 Flora. In a book where two of the three key women were famous, Flora holds her own very well. I loved her determined spirit and her compassion.
😍 The use of the dual timeline. Both worked in sync until the arcs braided themselves together.
😍 The secondary characters. Some have minor roles while some get a proper backstory. But all are interesting in some way or the other and aren’t flat.
😍 The romance track in Flora’s timeline. Important but never overpowering the main plot. A great slowburn relationship focusing more on feelings than lust.
😍 The compare-contrast between Flora’s and Marilyn’s situations. It is interesting to figure out how the tracks are connected.
😍 The surprise reveals. Some of them were guessable but it’s not like this was a suspense story. But some reveals genuinely caught me by surprise.
😍 The themes. Admittedly, the book went much darker than I expected. Some key themes were the objectification of women in Hollywood, the privacy struggles of celebrities, poverty, drug abuse, sexual abuse, and child abuse. But I appreciate how it didn’t try to sensationalise any of the issues. All topic were dealt with sensitively.
😍 The steady plot development though the pacing is slightly slow (which is to be expected for a character-oriented work.)
😍 The author's heartfelt note at the end. Explains quite a lot!
Bookish Okays:
🤔 Mother Mary’s appearance. As a practising Roman Catholic, I admit this was also a major reason in my grabbing the book. I love that the book wasn’t religious or preachy and focussed more on Mary the young girl than Mary the Mother of God. At the same time, the blurb makes it sound like Mother Mary also gets a timeline. (“Three women, three eras,…) But Mary’s presence is more like her presence in our lives: a benevolent soul who is present in the background and intercedes only when needed. I loved her appearance but I wanted much more of her.
Bookish Nays:
😔 A couple of references to Mother Mary contain swearing. I get that this reflects the human character’s personality, but when it isn’t essential to the plot, such sacrilege can be easily avoided.
😔 The chapter titles. I am not a big fan of chapter names in adult fiction anyway, but in this book, they were quite specific sentences that revealed essentials of that chapter. I like to be surprised.
Overall, the creative alternate history and the presence of two of the most iconic women in the world ended up making this a wonderful book for me. It helped that I knew a little bit about both Mother Mary and Marilyn Monroe, but even if you are unaware about their personal life, the book itself is fairly informative without going into telling. Imaginative stories such as this are always welcome in this world of formulaic fiction.
Definitely recommended to readers who enjoy unusual alternate-historical fiction with some memorable characters and a realistic feel. Even better if you are a fan of Marilyn Monroe.
My thanks to Random Things Tours, Pick Lock Publishing, and author Louise Beech for a complimentary copy of 'Wonderful', and for allowing me to be a part of this blog tour. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.
The digital version of this book is currently available on Kindle Unlimited.
Now I want to watch ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’ again!
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Blurb:
A Hollywood idol. The Virgin Mary. An everyday girl from Hull.
Three women, three eras, surprising things in common...
On 4th August 1962, the night she should have died, Marilyn Monroe – the biggest star in the world – receives a visitor who changes the course of her destiny. The Virgin Mary appears in her kitchen with a curious message. Inspired, Marilyn abandons her home, her life, her fame, and disappears into the night…
Fifty-four years later, in a Hull kitchen, Flora Baker finds Mary, bathed in light. She has a similar message for the working class woman who is on the poverty line and dreaming of a better life. Flora begins to make changes that impact not only her life but the lives of those around her…
Do Marilyn and Flora have more in common than just Mary’s visit? Are they somehow linked across time? And is Mary’s message for all the women of the world?
Wonderful is about the way women are portrayed in both history and the world of celebrity, about women not being quiet, and about women united by the shared stories that shape them.
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Author Louise Beech:
Louise Beech is the author of eleven novels and a memoir, Eighteen Seconds (2023). Her debut, How to be Brave, was a Guardian Readers’ Pick; The Lion Tamer Who Lost shortlisted for the Romantic Novel Awards 2019 and longlisted for the Polari Prize the same year; Call Me Star Girl was Best magazine’s Book of the Year; This Is How We Are Human was a Clare Mackintosh Book Club pick; and the audiobook of her memoir, Daffodils, shortlisted for the Audies23.
Her thrillers, End of Story and Lights Out, are written as Louise Swanson; the former was chosen by Sophie Hannah as a Book of the Year in the Daily Mail, and the latter was reviewed by The Times.
Her debut play, How to be Brave, toured Yorkshire venues in 2024.
She also writes as 'Louise Swanson'.
Connect with her on:
X/Twitter: https://x.com/LouiseWriter
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Check out this book:
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/246944976-wonderfulPurchase from:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0GJ674XWR
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This has been a stop on the #Wonderful blog tour conducted by Random Things Tours (@randomthingstours on Instagram.) Thanks for stopping by!
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