I love Emma Donoghue and loved this book. It was a little eerie reading about the 1918 flu epidemic in Ireland during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were so many details that are similar to what we are all experiencing today like people not distancing appropriately, lack of supplies, overwhelmed hospitals, and constant misinformation. This book was definitely a slow burn, so if you’re expecting tons of action, you may get bored. I loved it though as the author makes her characters so rich and believable. You can tell she does impeccable research. Overall, this was a 4.5-5 star read for me. Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the opportunity to review the ARC.

What a timely novel. This book had the potential to be too heavy, given the current pandemic, but the echoes and similarities between 1918 and 2020 caused this book to be even more engrossing. I read the majority of this over the course of a day - Donoghue is an excellent writer and storyteller. I look forward to reading more from her in the future.

I loved this book so much. I inhaled in it less then 24 hours.
I was constantly shocked at how timely this book had become. I was fascinated by the whole mid-wife in the 1918's experience and as a women who gave birth in the 2000's, I can't even imagine what their experience was like. I think we take for granted the level of care that we have now, during this pandemic as well as delivering babies everyday, let alone during a pandemic. I am not grateful on so many levels to be living through this pandemic and not that one.
I love the character of Julia because she is a strong, educated and capable women in a time in history where those characters arent usually highlighted. It was a story I had not heard before.
I do feel like it needed a prologue. I wanted to know what became of Julia, the main character and the repercussions of the decisions she made at the end of the story. I didn't want it to end so maybe I wanted more fro the main characters and develop them a little more before we had to say good-bye.

Emma Donoghue has brought readers another compelling story set in Ireland. This one covers the 1918 Dublin flu epidemic and focuses on Julia Power, an accomplished nurse/midwife.

Much like Room, this story is set in one confining location, but here we have different characters coming in at various times. A small room of the hospital was set aside for laboring mothers who were victims of the flu pandemic. Usually no more than three laboring mothers were in the room at a time, along with Nurse Power and a helper.

This is not a book for the squeamish due to the detailed accounts of what is required to nurse women who are sick and going through childbirth simultaneously. I was amazed at how accomplished Nurse Power was throughout the difficulties that were put in her way.

Donoghue doesn’t shy away from some of the injustices that were common to Ireland of the day, most specifically the way orphans and illegitimate children were treated. Also, how a simple thing to correct, such as a cleft lip, could determine a child’s future right from the moment of the first breath.

I loved the minor characters in the story, such as the orderly who was full of various euphemisms for death. I wasn’t crazy about reading so much about difficult births. I’d be a bit reluctant to recommend this to a young woman for fear it might scare her away from having children!

One thing that did stand out for me were the similarities in the pandemic from 1918 and today. Sad to say, not too much has changed, even though our health care has definitely improved.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Little Brown & Co. for allowing me to read an advance copy and give my honest review.

Stores empty. Concerts cancelled. Libraries closed. Hospitals full. People recoiling in horror at the sounds of their neighbour's cough...no, it's not Pandemic 2020 but Pandemic 1918 that is the setting of Emma Donahue's latest story. And what a gripping story it is, one of a young nurse left to cope with a small ward of flu-stricken women all on the verge of giving birth. I read it in one sitting, completely engaged and not wanting to leave the world the author created.

I loved the dark brooding, war-scarred setting of the novel and the intense relationships that develop between its  well-drawn characters: nurse Julia, her untutored but clever helper Bridey, the rebel woman-doctor, and the rotating cast of mothers, babies and terrifying Sisters who inhabit the dark world of the maternity ward. Though the book sometimes wears its research a little heavily, it was very interesting to learn about the parallels and differences between pandemics then and now. Donahue's novels are sometimes a bit hit and miss with me but I highly recommend this one to anyone who loves historical fiction or just a story well-told. 4.5 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the opportunity to read an arc in exchange for a fair review.

Thanks to Little, Brown, and Company for an egalley in exchange for an honest review.

Emma Donoghue presents a timely novel in which her main character is Julia Power, a nurse in Ireland during WWI and the Spanish Flu epidemic. Through Julia's eyes, we see the devastation of both events along with the political turmoil that embroils the country. The novel takes place over a period of three days in which Julia and her young volunteer, Birdie Sweeney witness both life and death. It is a compelling tale in which the environment surrounding the characters is even more fascinating than the characters themselves. What will stay with me long after this year has passed is how eloquent Donoghue is at showcasing health care workers who continue on even when the odds seem to be against them. As one last point, if I wonder about a character's life after the book is over that is always a good sign that an impression has been made.


Goodreads review published 02/07/20
Publication Date 21/07/20

I was a little nervous about reading this book during this time of a pandemic but I was surprised with how much I enjoyed it. It was amazing to me that while its been 100 years since the 1918 flu and so much has changed, there is so much that is the same. From the masks to the hospital workers being over worked to the government being in denial it was so amazing how easy it was to relate! I found myself flying through the pages. At times gut wrenching and heartbreaking, this was such an interesting read during the time of great uncertainty.

Emma Donoghue's best novel since Room which I realize might sound like faint praise, after the misfires of Akin and Frog Music. Unambiguously, this was one of the most moving and involving reading experiences I've had this year. Donoghue started writing this in 2018, and finished it just as the Covid-19 lockdown began, so this might be a perfect book for our own plague year.

We spend two intense, exhausting days in a Dublin hospital during the influenza epidemic of November 1918 with Julia Power, an unmarried nurse midwife in a maternity ward for influenza patients. Donoghue ratchets up the claustrophobic tension as Julia and Bridie, a young volunteer, do their utmost to save the lives of the revolving cast of women who occupy the ward's three beds, and face one high-risk delivery after another. With compassion, she exposes us to the many facets of Catholic Ireland's cruel and callous indifference towards the suffering of girls and women. Julia and Bridie are trapped in the ward's confines until the very end, when a brutal emotional punch lands out of nowhere.

Thanks to Netgalley for giving me a chance to read this one!

Emma Donoghue came to my attention in 2001 with Slammerkin and has not looked back. She has produced a steady flow of novels with a variety of settings in time and place that nonetheless share a focus on strong female characters who suddenly find themselves in extreme and extremely fascinating cicumstances. Probably the most well known of her books is Room. The Pull of the Stars presents a radically different situation but again calls forth strength of mind and body. The reader is pulled into a reality parallel to the one we live with today and evokes a sense of familiarity and empathy while showing that "things could be worse".

I received a free digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
When 'Call the Midwife' first became available to watch in the US, I watched it pretty regularly. So when I saw that 'The Pull of the Stars' was about a nurse in a maternity ward, I jumped at the chance to read it.
For those that enjoyed the BBC's stories of midwifery post World War II, you might enjoy this book-but I'd say it's much less uplifting than the TV series was. Over the course of three days, nurse Julia Taylor and a fresh faced volunteer (with no experience!) Bridie Sweeny, care for several women who are both expecting and facing the pandemic of the time-a terrible flu that can take its victims quickly. ( I'll admit, the flu descriptions made me think of our current COVID pandemic and the stories I've heard of people that are stable one minute and coding in the next half hour. )
The stories that this book shows-women who have had too many babies, or are having their first-they all have similar struggles and fears and all need help. Some of the medical practices of the time threw me for a loop-giving whiskey to a pregnant woman, for one-but they did the best they knew to do at the time.
There are several sad parts to the story, even at the end-but it is definitely worth a read.

This is a wonderful book that gives the reader a snapshot of a particular time in a particular place where regular people are coping with the circumstances of their life. It is very appropriate for today as it deals with the panhdemic of 1918 and it was interesting as how similar the to diseases are and also how the governments were trying to keep it contained (social distancing and masks). Julia and Bridie are heroines without even knowing it doing the best they can in the most dire of circumstances. The book also touches on the trials of war, the Catholic church, and Irish freedom, but the plot of the book really revolves around the Maternity/Fever ward and the patients there. As I read this on a kindle, it was not a page turner, but a screen swiper.

Given our current climate, I didn't expect to enjoy this book as much as I did. A world having to deal with an epidemic that is killing people sounded too close to reality but this book deals mostly with a maternity ward that is dealing with shortages thanks to the Great War and Spanish Flu. Nurse Power is given charge over expectant mothers who have the Spanish Flu and are going to give birth. Bridie comes to help and they form a quick bond while Nurse Power sees the dark side of the nuns who help with the hospital.

This book was very fascinating to see how people combated the Spanish Flu and knew so little of what was happening. It looks at how religious the medical industry is. This book is not for the squeamish since birth scenes are depicted and many of them go wrong.

I took off the star because of the ending. There is a cliche that I hate. I wished writers would understand that this is an old, tired cliche and stop using it. I'm not going to name it because of spoilers but it did ruin the book for me.

Thanks to Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for the opportunity to read The Pull of the Stars. Like Donoghue's novel, The Wonder the book takes place in Ireland. It is the waning days of the WWI in Dublin. The city is in the grip of the Spanish Flu and Julia Power is a nurse on a maternity ward. It is the eve of her thirtieth bithday and we learn that she lives with her brother who is mute from what he has seen and suffered while fighting for the British during the war.

The book takes place over three days and focuses on Julia and the patients she encounters who are in the hospital to give birth while also suffering from the flu. Dublin is a bleak city and the people are tired of the war and the ravages of the flu. Julia meets Bridie Sweeney a young woman who has grown up in a brutal orphanage run by the Catholic church when she shows up at the hospital to volunteer as a runner. Julia records the loss of every mother or baby by marking the back of her pocket watch and each loss leaves an imprint on Julia.

The book highlights themes that we are currently dealing with - how to manage during a pandemic, the effects of PTSD, the treatment and judgment of women at the hands of society. I really liked this book and read it in two days.

I ended up dnfing this one, I just couldn’t get into this one. I really thought I was going to love this one.

I received this from Netgalley.com for a review.

"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."

An okay read from Emma Donoghue but I would recommend this book for its social relevance - Spanish Flu vs Covid - rather than its plot or characters.

3☆

I had a hard time reading this book. The format of not using proper punctuation with dialogue was distracting. The story was graphic and slow. The topic matter May have been hard for me due to the current pandemic.

This book was beautiful and heartbreaking - not to mention extremely timely, in the midst of our current pandemic. I so want to know what happens next. A must-read.

I found this story to be fascinating and by 60% in, I had trouble putting it down. It is the story of two women who meet each other while working in a Dublin hospital during the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic, in a special maternity ward for flu patients. I always am interested in stories that have a medical component, and the author's writing style drew me in. This book does contain graphic birth scenes. They did not bother me at all, and in fact I was really interested in reading about the medical procedures. I did find the ending to be a bit rushed- I think this could definitely have been a longer book. This book covers many difficult subjects such as poverty, death, infant loss, child abuse, abuse of power by religious officials. Thank you for the complimentary copy~

Emma Donoghue's The Pull of the Stars is one of those books that snuck up on me. Until about 20% of the way in I was thinking, "This is good. Not great, but good enough." Then, just a few pages beyond that point the book grabbed me and didn't let go. I read. And read and read and read. I read much later into the night than I should have, but I finally started to drop off—so I got up early the next morning to finish the book before I did anything else.

The three central female characters in The Pull of the Stars are each compelling in her own way, and sharing their growing closeness gave me a fierce sense of loyalty to them. The mothers on the influenza ward are also an interesting mix of ages and attitudes. Many of the characters beyond these are rather two-dimensional, but the core trio easily carry the narrative.

We are living now in our own pandemic, though one not yet as destructive as the 1918 influenza, and The Pull of the Stars gives us an interesting perspective through which to view our own time. Yes, things could definitely be worse. Yes, people clutch at all sort of straws as they convince themselves they won't fall ill or desperately try questionable cures. Read The Pull of the Stars for its own sake and to come to a richer understanding of the present day.

I received a free electronic review copy of this book from the publisher. The opinions are my own.

5 Stars, one of the best of 2020
Talk about timing. Emma Donoghue became interested in the Great Influenza in 2018 because of the 100 year anniversary. But as she put the final touches on her draft, the corona virus reared its ugly head.
Emma Donoghue has always been a master at putting us smack dab in a time and place. Here, it’s Ireland in 1918. WWI is still ongoing and the Influenza has Dublin in its grasp. Nurse Julia Powers is acting matron of the Maternity/Fever Ward. Into her ward comes Bridie, with no training whatsoever, and Dr. Lynn, a female doctor and Sinn Fein rebel.
There are similarities to our current epidemic, with overflowing hospitals, supply shortages and the need for masks, but we also get to see what has changed. No doctors nowadays prescribing alcohol to pregnant women to give them comfort or linseed poultices to cure a cough. And the same lack of understanding about social distancing. “The queue I passed outside the picture house! Grown men, women and children, all gasping to get into the great germ box.”
The writing is so detailed, you will feel you are in the room. And the characters come across as fully fleshed. This book just drew me in. It’s not a fast paced story, but I was desperate to know what the outcome would be for them and the patients under their care. The story is heartbreaking. As with our own crisis, the book points out the incredible strain on the workers tasked with caring for the sick.
As an interesting side note, Dr. Lynn was a real person. Make sure to read the Author’s Note for her history.
My thanks to netgalley and Little, Brown for an advance copy of this book.