Author: Emma Donoghue
Genre: Historical Fiction
Publisher: HarperAvenue
Publication Date: July 21, 2020
Book Description: In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia’s regimented world step two outsiders — Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumoured Rebel on the run from the police , and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney.
In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over three days, these women change each other’s lives in unexpected ways. They lose patients to this baffling pandemic, but they also shepherd new life into a fearful world. With tireless tenderness and humanity, carers and mothers alike somehow do their impossible work.
In The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue once again finds the light in the darkness in this new classic of hope and survival against all odds.
Rating: 4 Stars
Review: Personally I will read anything that Emma Donoghue. The publishers chose to publish this very early and I am so glad they did. It feels like Donoghue can write any type of story.
This story takes place in Ireland during the 1918 Spanish Flu Pandemic. Julia Power is a nurse/mid-wife in a maternity ward. The narrative takes place over just a few days in one single ward. The women in the ward have the flu and are late stages in their pregnancies. With the help of Doctor Kathleen Lynn and a volunteer Bridie, they do what feels is the impossible, and deliver these babies under horrible circumstances.
The Pull of the Stars is a riveting tale. It is not a happy one, but I found myself not wanting to put this book down. The author took a lot of care to tell these stories and the great lengths that went to deliver these babies. Wonderful writing that is so relevant to what is happening in the world today.
Obsessed Bookaholic 