If you read Donoghue’s Room, you know how much tension she can bring to an exceedingly small area. It was hard for me to believe that a novel set in Dublin maternity fever ward with barely enough room for three cots could be a page turner, but it is. And how she managed to write a book about that deadly influenza pandemic at the most appropriate time is another marvel. Nurse Julia Powers finds herself coping with much more than she expected as hospital staff members succumb to the flu. She’s in charge of a maternity ward for influenza survivors and finds herself forced to deliver several babies alone. The hospital is so desperate for help they’ve called in a female doctor, Doctor Lynn, who was active in the Sinn Fein 1916 uprising. Dr. Lynn was a real person and as she and Nurse Powers work together, she helps to open Julie’s eyes as to why the Sinn Fein did what they did. Another angel in disguise, a young orphan, Bridie, with lots of experience in poverty and pain, volunteers to help. Like all good historical fiction, it educates the reader. In this case, its about the flu, the Irish Uprising, and what growing up as a orphan under the thumb of the Catholic Church is like.

Captivating horrifying heartwarming reassuring. The book read like a play with a timespan of 48 hours and set mostly in a tiny makeshift maternity ward where mothers with the flue are preparing to deliver. Nurse Power is strong and full of wisdom, caring deeply for the mothers and babies in her charge. As the story of each mother comes into focus Nurse Power is there along with her new helper Bridie. The imagery of Nurse Powers’ heroic midwifery is graphic and made me cringe at times even as her fierce determination had me rooting for her throughout. Taking place during 1918 during the pandemic, it is so timely but wouldn't recommended for pregnant women or women who have lost a baby. Donoghue tackles the inequalities of socio economics, gender, and maternal mortality. Lies, propaganda, political and religious corruption are not shied away from.

This book was challenging for me. I loved her previous book and found the writing gripping and so smart. This time around I was just bored with the story.

I could not get into the thin plot that played out over the course of just three days. I also think that reading about a pandemic in the middle of a pandemic is probably not going to get more than 2.5 stars from me right now.

But......give it a try if you like Donoghue's writing.

#NetGalley
#ThePulloftheStars

Emma Donoghue seems incapable of writing anything less than beautiful. While this is definitely different than ROOM, I loved it.

Set in the Dublin in the midst of world war 1 and the Spanish flu pandemic and just after the 1916 rebellion, The Pull of the Stars is a brutal and beautiful exploration of women meeting at the intersection of war, disease, poverty, political upheaval and sexism. Told from the perspective of Nurse Power, a single woman caring for her war-ravaged brother Tim, The Pull of the Stars takes the reader through 3 harrowing days in the Maternity Fever ward. In Donoghue's incredibly detailed style, the reader can feel the chill in the claustrophobic ward and panic and perseverance as Nurse Powers along with the rebel Dr. Lynn and the tough as nails Bridie Sweeney battle the brutal pandemic and shortages of staff and supplies to give their patients a fighting chance. Even with an ending that seems a bit rushed, The Pull of the Stars expands an often Male-dominated period in history to make room for the experiences of Dublin's women.

I suspect that many readers and reviewers will focus on the prescience of Emma Donoghue’s deeply affecting novel, The Pull of the Stars. Because this novel recounts a small slice of life during a global pandemic—there are plenty of references to people ignoring public health warnings about spitting in public and encouraging mask wearing—this book is absolutely a book for this year. But I worry that comments like this will overshadow just how good this book is. As always, Donoghue captures the atmosphere and feelings of what it might be like to be a nurse, on a Dublin maternity ward, while influenza scythes its way through rich and poor alike.

Julia Power is one of the few medical professionals still on their feet at a large city hospital. She’s already had what we call the Spanish flu, so she’s also one of the few people who can also work with the sick without falling ill herself. Because she has experience as a midwife, Julia is assigned to the makeshift Maternity/Fever ward. The Pull of the Stars takes place over two days in the fall of 1918, sometime before the Armistice ended World War I. We watch Julia rise, take the trolley to the hospital, work all day trying to keep women and their babies alive before trudging home to rest and do it all over again.

The flu, like all pandemics, is a leveller. When Julia arrives at the hospital at the beginning of The Pull of the Stars, a well-off Protestant woman sharing the ward with two very poor women. The women come from different types of life, but they’re alike in that they’re pregnant and they have the flu. Doctors have learned that the flu is very hard on pregnant women; it tends to cause premature birth or still birth. So, while Julia fights against the flu without knowing what is causing the illness with little more than obsessive santization with dilute carbolic acid and the help of a friendly, bright young woman from a nearby orphanage, we’re also treated to a grim portrait of Irish obstetrics at the time. The recommendations of one of the (male) doctors had me shuddering. I hoped that this doctor would be incapacitated before he could touch the women in Julia’s ward. Thankfully, Julia has Dr. Kathleen Lynn to work with. (Dr. Lynn was a real historical figure and, by all accounts, a goddamned legend.)

The Pull of the Stars is about life and death. We see how fragile life is, as people fall sick all around and as women labor with very little pain relief. This fragility is deepened by Julia’s sudden friendship with her help, Bridie. Like the men around them who have returned from the French trenches, Julia and Bridie’s friendship is the kind that is forged in harrowing circumstances and will last a lifetime. In contrast to the fleeting intensity of life, death on the Maternity/Fever is an implacable foe. Unfortunately, stubbornness and carbolic acid is little match for the H1N1 influenza A virus, lives of hard work and poverty, and a lack of modern obstetric knowledge.

This last paragraph makes The Pull of the Stars seem relentlessly depressing. Sure, there are depressing moments (kind of a lot), but I loved Bridie’s irrepressible personality and admired Julia’s determination to keep moving forward in spite of everything. This is rather a heroic book. While I would recommend this to readers curious about the time and the place, I would also give it out to readers looking for a story of women’s friendships and strength against impossible odds. Even after all the deaths in this book, I wanted to stand up and cheer the survivors after I finished the last page of The Pull of the Stars.

"The human race settles on terms with every plague in the end, the doctor told her. Or a stalemate, at the least."

Talk about a timely book. In the Author's note, Emma Donoghue shares how she began writing this book after being inspired by the centenary of the great flu, and by the time she had delivered her last draft to publishers in March 2020, COVID 19 came on the scene.
"**The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than the first World War - an estimated 3 to 6 percent of the human race."

In Dublin, 1918, Nurse Julia Power is working in the maternity ward of an understaffed hospital. There to assist her are Dr. Lynn and a volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. Over the course of three days, these women's lives will be intertwined, and we watch as they (mainly Julia) attempt to save their patients, bring babies into the world, and care for their very sick patients.

"Your job's not to bear the babies, Bridie had told me, it’s to save them."

The research that went into this book is impressive. I applaud Donoghue's attention to detail. I love how she blended facts with fiction. The writing is impeccable, the story drew me into, and I felt as if I were a fly on the wall as all the characters attempted to save lives, deliver babies, and just plain live in desperate times. I enjoyed how the characters cared for each other and tried their best despite the odds being against them. I think it is worth mentioning a second time that this book is beautifully written, researched and carefully plotted.

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Julia Power is a midwife/nurse in Ireland during the 1918 pandemic. This story takes us through a three day stretch where we experience life and death in a small, makeshift maternity ward.
Every now and then I read a story that I know will stick with me forever, this is one of them! This story made me laugh and cry! I loved this book!

Thank you to Little, Brown and Company and NetGalley for the opportunity to read and review this book!

Julia Power is a nurse working in the maternity ward of an Irish hospital during the 1918 flu pandemic. Her patients are all expectant mothers who have come down with the disease. The story is an up-close-and-personal look at the struggles, triumphs, and horrors of this pivotal moment in history. At times, the story seems as though it took place a million years ago (namely with the seemingly primitive, often gruesome methods of turn-of-the-century childbirth), and others could have been written yesterday (lots of striking parallels between Covid-19 and the 1918 flu). The incredibly well-written book vividly shadows Nurse Julia for three days, and you truly feel as though you are right there with her. The book is funny at times, stomach-churning at others, and just so beautifully done. I loved it.

This book appeared to be the perfect read for me at this time. Unfortunately, it never really clicked for me. I never really connected with the characters. The author had a out of graphic details about birthing a baby while infected with the Spanish flu. This well researched book was a little slow for me.

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical fiction novel about a nurse's chaotic experience at a hospital in Dublin during the influenza pandemic of 1918. How ironic that Emma Donoghue was inspired to write this novel by the centenary of the so-called Spanish flu, and then submitted a final draft in March 2020 when the world was in the early onset of another pandemic. It is no wonder that her publisher fast-tracked this book to get it in readers' hands ASAP.

I was fascinated that the entire novel took place over three harrowing days in the maternity/fever ward of a large hospital in Dublin, Ireland. "Ward" is a generous term, considering our protagonist, nurse Julia Power, describes her setting as a converted supply closet just large enough to house three patients and their surviving newborns, although surviving birth is not to be taken for granted. I appreciated the detail, both medical and mundane, about the process of labor, delivery and post-natal care during wartime Dublin. Many social issues came into play, including how society treated poverty-stricken women and their children. How sad that many were treated as being disposable, undesirable and hopeless. Post-traumatic stress following war, domestic abuse, religious fervor, abuses of power by the church were more issues explored through the lives of the women who passed through the hospital during those few days.

The book is well-written with vivid descriptions of the deliveries as well as wry tidbits of government propaganda of the day: "The government has the situation well in hand and the epidemic is actually in decline. There is no real risk except to the reckless..." We hear about wearing face masks, quarantining, avoiding public gatherings, heightened risk on public transportation - all eerily familiar to us in the current situation.

Overall, this was a strong showing and will be popular due to the subject matter. I recommend it to readers who enjoy historical fiction, medical stories and women's fiction.

I thank the publisher Little Brown and NetGalley for granting advance access to a digital copy in exchange for my honest review.

A heartwrenching book of WWI and the Flu Pandemic set in Ireland. Donoghue has her reader follow an over worked nurse in a maternity ward and proceeds to describe clearly the conditions and outcomes for multiple women. Her writing is strong and by the end you feel as tired as the nurse, but with that thread of hope for the future that makes the hardships worthwhile.

First off, I love Emma Donoghue. Her writing is immersive, engaging, and excellent on all accounts.
She writes the best characters and describes the settings as if she is painting a photo-realistic image in my mind. Her use of language, a turn of phrase, and words are extraordinary.

We follow one nurse in the books as she tries to skirt through all the complications of living during a pandemic, a war, and the overall broken city life of 1918 Dublin, Ireland. She is a nurse in a hospital specializing in the maternity ward for the ill.

I fell in love with these characters. I glued myself to this book for any solace out of the current pandemic we find ourselves in, by seeing exactly how we failed years ago during the 1918 flu pandemic (and how we failed and continue to fail women who give life). It is insane how closely linked these two diseases are. I don't know why this book helped me deal with the current situation of the world, but it did, if only for a brief moment in time.

This book is flooded with visceral images and it is not for the faint of heart. I was glued to every page, every moment, every day. The story flew by and I never found a moment when I wanted to put this book down.

I highly recommend this engaging (historical) piece of history and art.

Thanks Netgalley!

This book is perfect for fans of the television show call the midwife. I really enjoyed author Emma Donahues complex yet direct character voice in this novel, especially after reading her popular book room. Although room and the pull of the stars are both very different in character plot and setting, I found both of these books highly enjoyable. The pull of the stars will be one of my top pics of the year!

From BBC Culture

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200722-eerily-prescient-2020-plague-novels

"This grippe's a form of life?"
"Yes. A creature with no malign intention, only a craving to reproduce itself, much like our own."

Emma Donoghue's The Pull of the Stars is a heart-wrenchingly heavy story with uncanny relevance. Started as a project to commemorate the hundred-year anniversary of the 1918 influenza pandemic, this novel shares an eerie likeness to the current COVID-19 pandemic.

This beautifully-written book takes us through three days in the Irish autumn of 1918. Nurse Julia Powers toils in a Dublin maternity ward for expectant mothers, tackling both the expected dangers of childbirth and the frightening side effects of the influenza that haunts each of her patients. She demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the women in her care, turning to fresh-faced young volunteer Bridie Sweeney and newly-arrived political agitator Dr. Kathleen Lynn for guidance.

It took me a bit of time to get into this slice-of-[scary]-life novel. But the characters and their relationships -- to each other, to the children soon-to-be born, to the flu, to Ireland, to themselves -- soon hooked me. It did make me a bit woozy at times, especially with the birthing complications that plague Nurse Powers' maternity ward, but it felt deeply grounded in women's experiences of the era. Tensions from the war and the Irish resistance movement also permeate the novel, adding a layer of exhaustion and desperation to the already haggard setting.

[4.5/5: A beautiful novel that is not for the faint of heart. Historical fiction that reads like a contemporary scenario due to current events. Touches on issues of deep-seated poverty, women's medicine, national identity, sexuality, religious tension, PTSD, grief, and so on. Donoghue coaxes out companionship and humanity from the harrowing halls of a ravaged hospital, resulting in a powerful, tragic, and yet ultimately hopeful story.]

Many thanks to the publisher (Little, Brown and Company) & NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

When I first heard about Emma Donoghue’s new novel, The Pull of the Stars, I struggled with whether or not I could handle reading a novel about a pandemic since we’re currently in the middle of one ourselves, ultimately my love of Donoghue’s writing and storytelling won out though and I decided to give it a go. Set in Dublin, Ireland in 1918, in the middle of both WWI and a deadly influenza pandemic, The Pull of the Stars takes us inside a maternity ward in a hospital in Dublin. Through the eyes of Nurse Julia Power, we see firsthand what it looks like to work in what has become just as lethal as the battlefield itself. Nurse Power is tasked with caring for expectant mothers who have contracted the deadly flu. The hospital is woefully overcrowded and understaffed as the staff continually gets sick while caring for patients. Nurse Power’s ward honestly isn’t even a ward; it’s a supply closet that has been converted to a ward. Not only is it cramped, but it means that all of the pregnant women are in one room together. When tragedy strikes, there’s no dignity and no privacy. Everyone bears witness to your grief.

I was drawn into the story immediately by Nurse Power’s perspective of what it was like to work as a nurse in this environment and her tireless devotion to keeping these women alive, but what really captivated me was watching each pregnant woman’s story unfold. The story may mostly take place in a tiny closet, but Donoghue uses the journeys of each woman to explore some huge themes – religion, poverty, sexual abuse, PTSD, and abuse of power, just to name a few, as well as to show how deadly the flu was and how it could strike at any moment. What takes place in that room is raw, emotional, and so authentic that I found myself tearing up many times while reading, particularly once I learned the significance of the watch on the book’s cover. I may have been hesitant to start reading The Pull of the Stars, but once I started it, it kept me rapt until the very last page. While in many ways, it’s a tragic story, The Pull of the Stars is also a quietly, powerful story of hope and survival. 4.5 STARS

<u>The Pull of the Stars</u> takes place in Dublin, Ireland, 1918, over the course of 3 days in a makeshift maternity ward for flu ridden patients.

For a book with events that happen so quickly, this had a slow burn to it. I didn't find myself really invested in any of the characters until about a third of the way through. Then everything just came crashing down at once. It was a sad, bleak book that oftentimes read like a hospital soap opera/drama. The medical information was definitely well researched, but also too detailed and lengthy at times. While I enjoyed the premise and loved the character of Bridie, maybe reading a book about the last great flu in the middle of a worldwide pandemic just wasn't the right choice for me.

This is typical Emma Donoghue, excellent writing and well-developed characters. The coincidence of her being interested in the 1918 Spanish flu at the 100 year anniversary in 2018 and making it the backdrop of her novel and then having her novel come out in the middle of the Coronavirus pandemic was an unintended benefit, as I think more people will be drawn to this story. The events of this story take place over a 3 day period amidst supply shortages and other challenges that parallel our current situation. This was a great read and I would have enjoyed it no matter when it was published, but I have to say the timing of the release did pull me in a little bit more.

Has our current pandemic made you curious about the great flu pandemic of 1918? I know I have kicked myself for never thinking to ask my grandmother what it was like for her and her family during those times, especially after realizing she was pregnant with my mother in the fall of 1918, giving birth the following spring. How frightening those times must have been!

Emma Donoghue says she was inspired by the centenary of the great flu pandemic of 1918 to begin writing this book in October, 2018, delivering the last draft of the book to her publisher in March of this year. What timing!

Her book is set in Dublin, Ireland, and is told through the eyes of 30-year-old unmarried nurse Julia Powers who is working in one of the many Catholic hospitals in the area. Most of the action of the story takes place in the Maternity/Fever ward where pregnant mothers are being sent when they are showing signs of the flu--usually fever and coughs. The 'ward' is little more than a large closet that has been converted to hold three cots for patients.

The hospital is short-staffed and Nurse Powers is working her shift alone until a young volunteer named Bridie shows up to be her 'runner.' Through talking to her in free moments, Julia begins to learn how young women are treated in church-run homes for orphans, where Bridie has been living.

Julia struggles to keep her patients comfortable with the few supplies she has, then helps them deliver their premature babies when the inevitable labor begins. Oh why can't there be a doctor present in those desperate moments! But unfortunately doctors are few and stretched thin throughout the hospital. Don't forget, WWI is going on at this same time and many have been sent to the battlefields. The hospital is making do with older, retired doctors and even a woman who is a known political agitator (based on the real life Dr Kathleen Lynn). Those doctors they do have available dash in and out, sometimes giving Julia a free hand to do what she thinks is necessary. It's touch and go with many of these women as Julia watches them struggle through difficult labor to deliver their babies. Those very ill with the virus show the impact of lack of oxygen on their skin as it turns from red to brown to blue to black as death from cyanosis sets in. Julia keeps a sad record of patients she loses, the mother or her baby, by marking scratches on her pocket watch.

This story highlights how poorly women were treated just 100 years ago. No one liked to interfere between a husband and wife. Even if it was obvious the man was mistreating her, it was deemed his prerogative. Catholic woman were expected to give their husbands 12 children, though many died in the process. (When we were in Montreal last year, we were told early settler women were told by their parish priests that it was their duty to the church to get pregnant every year!)

Julia learns one patient is an unwed mother and Bridie confides that the nuns run homes for those women as well. They are expected to stay and work off their debt after their baby is born, sometimes for a year or more, like indentured servants. If one dies while living there, she is simply dumped in a hole, buried in an unmarked grave. Joni Mitchell's song, The Magdalene Laundries, ran through my head while I was reading this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATaFy...

Julia's home life is interesting too: she lives with her younger brother who has returned from the war unscathed physically but is unable or unwilling to speak. How will he react to a decision she makes at the end of the story?

As to who has it tougher, men or women, Julia makes a point of reminding one of the annoying male orderlies that women are also like soldiers, laying down their lives to bring the next generation into the world, so many of them dying in the process.

The similarities and parallels between our two flu pandemics is quite astonishing--as is all the misinformation that some people still believe. This is a wonderful piece of historical fiction, so timely in its significance to our own times. By the way, Donoghue mentions in her afterward that "the influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than the First World War--an estimated 3 to 6 percent of the human race." That doesn't bode well for for the results of our current pandemic, especially as we watch the numbers rise again this summer. Has nothing much been learned? Wash your hands, wear a mask and practice social distancing.

I must mention the significance of the title, which I loved! "In Italy, they used to blame the influence of the constellations for making them sick. 'Influenza delle stelle--the influence of the stars.' They believed that the heavens were governing their fates, that people were quite literally star-crossed." So interesting!

Another interesting piece of information: When babies are born facing upward, they are called 'stargazers.' Looking towards the sky.

I received an arc of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. Many thanks for the introduction to Emma Donoghue's writing.