Lib Wright, a British nurse who has trained under Florence Nightingale in the Crimea, shares the nursing duties with Sister Michael, a Roman Catholic nun. This way, the committee feels, Anna’s survival will either be confirmed as a miracle or, alternatively, she will be revealed as a fraud. After a fortnight, each nurse-without any discussion with the other-is expected to report their findings to the committee. In order to determine once and for all whether or not Anna is truly “living on air” (and a few sips of water), prominent residents of the village, including the doctor and the priest, form a committee responsible for hiring nurses to watch over Anna 24/7, never leaving her alone. Many visitors, both from Ireland and elsewhere, come to see Anna for themselves. Although logic tells them that staying healthy without eating is impossible, thanks to an article that has appeared in the newly established newspaper The Irish Times, Anna has gained a certain notoriety. Many people are convinced that Anna’s survival must be a true religious miracle, while others believe that her parents are somehow feeding her on the sly and that they are using her rapidly growing fame to make money.
12 years after the Irish Famine ends in 1847, nurse Elizabeth (Lib) Wright has been hired by residents of a small village in the Irish Midlands to watch Anna O’Donnell, an 11-year-old Roman Catholic girl who-according to the newspapers and people who have met her-has not eaten for four months.
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