Beautifully written and timely tale of a nurse during a post war pandemic (1919 Ireland). It's fast paced and I read it breathlessly.

The Pull of the Stars, follows a 30yr old nurse Julia Powers during the 1918 flu epidemic. She is a mother/baby nurse for patients with the flu, crammed in what seems to be a room almost the same size as a utility closet. We see her struggle with her patients, desperate to provide care in an overcrowded hospital short-staffed due to illness. She has to learn to make her own decisions and comes to rely on an orphaned girl sent by the nuns to help her. Overall, I found this fast and interesting but (you know me) I wanted a big twist at the end and didn't get it. 3.5 stars

Serious question: were there always this many books about pandemics? Is this like one of those things where you learn about something you'd never heard of before and then, suddenly, it's EVERYWHERE. Because I keep reading these books that were written pre-COVID and pandemics seem to be stalking me.

Anyway, I really liked this understated exploration of healthcare, illness, maternity, and all kinds of power abuses. The Pull of the Stars is set in Ireland in 1918. It's a book that goes a lot deeper than you may first expect. It takes place over only a few days and barely moves outside of the single room in which Nurse Julia Power cares for those who are pregnant and in quarantine. It was a surprisingly emotional journey following Julia through her day as a nurse, trying to keep fevers down and despair at bay. Trying, against horrendous odds, to deliver healthy living babies.

The 1918 influenza was a devastating pandemic. Even as people were killing each other on the battlefields of the First World War, an even more deadly killer was spreading from person to person through love, kindness, touch. Here Donaghue brings a uniquely Irish perspective to the time. With the combination of aversion to contraception, the social pressure to churn out babies (upwards of ten was the norm), sexual abuses in religious institutions and Magdalene laundries, a maternal mortality rate of 15%, AND the pandemic, this was a terrible time and place to be a woman and pregnant.

Nurse Power sees mothers trying and failing to give birth to their twelfth child because their bodies can't take any more. She sees young victims of sexual abuse terrified as they are forced to give birth to the babies of the male relatives who raped them. She sees the "fallen women" of Magdalene laundries forced to give up their babies. She sees abuse victims who are afraid to get better and leave the hospital.

It may seem like the whole story takes place in one small room, but much of the horror that happens there is rooted in far-reaching abuses of power, religious hypocrisy, and social policy. In the early twentieth century, many people really did believe that class was genetic and passed from parent to child, so the doctors in this book dismiss the infants of poor working class people literally from the minute they are born.

I would definitely recommend it if you can stomach the gore and the mentions of abuse/incest (all off-page). I liked that the author wove a lot of historical fact with her fiction, including the character of Kathleen Lynn, who I was unfamiliar with. The only thing I didn't love is how the romantic subplot seemed to come flying in out of nowhere with no romantic chemistry suggested beforehand, but it was such a small part of what's going on in this book that I didn't mind very much.

I really wanted to like this book. I've enjoyed Emma Donoghue's other works, but I just couldn't get into this one. I didn't feel invested in the characters and had to make myself read it.

While I've been familiar with Emme Donoghue's writing, this is the first book I've read of hers. This novel takes place during the flu pandemic of the early twentieth century and is mostly taking place in a maternity ward that strapped for both staff and resources. While most people are avoiding pandemic books like the plague (pardon the pun), I found this one fascinating. I love this time period and the historical details were on point! If you like historical fiction or the TV show The Knick, you simply have to read this marvel of a book!

For every man who thinks childbirth is easy and women go out out in the fields and drop babies like nothing and go right back to work, this should be required reading. By God, what these women went through in the early 1900's in Dublin would make you never want a second one let alone a twelfth. I almost literally threw up.

This lovely written book connects on a number of levels. It is written about the big flu epidemic in 1918 but could have easily taken place today in the Corona Virus outbreak. In fact much of the advice given for prevention is the same- wash your hands, avoid people, wait for it to pass. The hospital is short staffed because so many have died or sick. Young nurse, Julia Power, is thrown into running a ward of expectant mothers who have the flu single handily. She is given the help of a young girl from the convent with absolutely no experience, Birdie, to help her.

So the story deals with the expectant mothers and the flu and then more layers are added. Power has a young brother, Tim, badly mentally damaged from the war. There is also the layer of the Irish having definite opinions about fighting for their oppressors, the English, and division in the country over this. Added to this is Dr. Kathleen Lynn working in desperate situations at the hospital badly in need of doctors, even female ones. The problem is the Dublin police are trying to arrest her as she was a major player in the Sinn Fein. She is a real person.

Birdie is a ward of the Catholic Church and I used to be angry at the men of the Church but it turns out the nuns were no picnic either. How did people get so mean and awful to the people they are supposed to be taking care of? Birdie's story brought tears to my eyes so many times. It's so hard to imagine a 8 year old child hung from her hair bun on a coat rack for the great sin of having red hair? This is the tip of the iceberg.

This was far from an easy story to read. It broke my heart in so many ways but it is so lovingly written and so important. We can't forget our pasts or we are doomed to repeat them. Oh wait, we are. It is so sad that we progressed so little. A thought provoking book that will haunt you for days to come.

Thanks to Net Galley for a Copy of this book in exchange for a fair review.

I had a really hard time with this. There were too many similarities to the current pandemic, and it gave me anxiety. HOWEVER, this means that I might not be the target audience. The writing is brilliant, characters are perfect, and the setting is something else. I may try again in a few years.

WOW! This book is unlike any I've ever read, and I mean that in the best way possible. Donoghue's writing utterly transports the reader into the cramped, chaotic maternity ward where Julia spends the three days of the book. Squeezing so much life and death into three days is an impressive narrative feat, and it pays off. The urgency and emotions are heightened, as are the relationships built between the characters. Donoghue's research is also meticulously done, and the endless details about life in a 1918 maternity ward are fascinating. I swallowed this book whole!

I can't quite decide if this is 3.5 or 4 stars, so giving it the benefit of the doubt and taking it up to 4 stars. Intriguing book; I always enjoy historical fiction, and the timing of this is just so spot on. Julia is a fascinating character, and I loved the short, 3-day focus of this book. It just made it feel like an incredibly intimate snapshot of Julia's life, rather than telling her whole story. Bridie was another great character (although I will admin I continually read her name as Birdie), as was Dr. Lynn (although there were far less details about her). The setting for the book was brutal; and many of the passages were incredibly graphic and drawn out, perhaps a bit too detailed? They did not bother me, but I can see how they might bother others. My biggest issue with this book? Julia and Bridie's relationship. I don't know how else to describe it other than "forced." It did not seem like a natural progression of the story, but instead something that was throw in at the last minute as a twist, and it just didn't work for me. Other than that, I really enjoyed yet another great book from Ms. Donoghue.

Thank you NetGalley and Little, Brown & Co. For providing me with this ARC. The tears are drying on my cheeks as I write this. Emma Donoghue starting writing this book as the centenary of the 1918 Pandemic approached. It’s the story of a “closet” in a Dublin hospital that had been converted to a ward for expectant mothers who had the influenza. Covering only three days, the character driver story describes Nurse Julia Power, her three expectant mothers, and Bridie Sweeney, a 22 yr old volunteer sent by a local convent. The pace is frenetic, with nonstop action and heartbreak. The author introduces fully formed supporting characters, who each add to the drama. The descriptions of the births are more graphic than most of us would want to read, and the influenza itself is a major character. The current COVID-19 pandemic started just as the book was in the final stages. It will be published on July 21, 2020. God help us all.

Thank you to NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advanced copy of "Pull of the Stars" by Emma Donoghue. I've been a fan of Emma Donoghue since reading "Room' and her latest, "Pull of the Stars" doesn't disappoint.

Donoghue (Room) gives us a touching historical novel with characters and circumstances crafted directly from history. She managed to take me from elation at a budding relationship to heartbreak and loss to redemption in the final pages of the final chapter of this beautifully written novel. I have to say this rivals the power of her bestseller Room, and gives us female characters that all women have gathered their strength from over the past century who gave us a place in history and the world beyond that of marriage and home. This one feels as though it is slowly developing yet each cobblestone we pass builds to the road to the end. I feel fortunate to have gotten an early opportunity with this wonderful novel.

This story takes on an unexpected congruity with our current moment. It shows us the rise of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic and it’s affects on the Irish population. Taking place over just three days, we move through the story through the eyes of Julia Power who is a nurse taking care of women in a makeshift maternity ward who all have the flu. Overwhelmed, Julia is assigned a “helper” named Bridie who we learn has a horrifying story of her own to tell. This powerful story is so much more than a story about the Spanish Flu. An unforgettable story of compassion and survival.

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.