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.

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue is a novel rich in history. It examines medicine, war, living conditions, and life during a pandemic.

The Pull of the Stars was a visceral, raw read.

Set in Dublin during the influenza pandemic of 1918, we follow Nurse Julia Power into a makeshift maternity influenza ward in a city hospital. Julia, along with her colleagues, are extremely overworked because of the pandemic. The patients that she takes care of are described so vividly, and the medical situations occurring appear to be meticulously researched. A word of warning; if you’re squeamish at all they can be very detailed!

The description of the city and people during the pandemic are fascinating, especially considering the parallels to what we are currently living through. I especially loved the historical underpinning of the novel. Dr. Kathleen Lynn makes an appearance, and the 1916 Rebellion is discussed briefly. Julia’s brother has served as a soldier in the war. There is also mention of the religious institutions operating at the time housing unmarried mothers and their babies.

I will say that I was uncertain about the ending. Not to give too much away, but the final events turned so quickly and seemed to me to have a totally different feel to the rest of the novel.

Overall a beautiful, bloody and engrossing read.

The timing of this book is eery. It's about a nurse working in a Dublin maternity ward during the 1918 flu pandemic. It is so good, right from the beginning. Donoghue brings you right into the character's head from the first page, and she evokes a completely realized world of mask wearers and public health scoffers. In one memorable scene, Nurse Julia Powers walks along the street and notices a sign warning people not to spread the flu by spitting - and the sign itself is plastered with spit.

The novel takes place over the course of two days during which Powers battles to save women and their babies in her small ward, while also battling her own distractions in the form of her shell-shocked brother and animosities within the hospital. At her side is Bridie, a completely inexperienced volunteer whose willingness to help is more useful than the inattentive care of most of the doctors in the hospital.

No characters or situations are left undeveloped, and, against the backdrop of WWI, this contained world holds all the drama of a battlefield. As Powers says when overhearing discussions about the possibility of peace, "It occurred to me that in the case of this flu there could be no signing a pact with it; what we waged in hospitals was a war of attrition, a battle over each and every body." Her efforts to save her patients, backed up by her deep knowledge of nursing, is portrayed as a fight that she is determined not to lose if there's anything in her power to stop it.

Powers also uses the language of the battlefield to describe women's experience of childbirth. She argues strongly against the moralizing of her fellow ward sister who sees unmarried motherhood as a sin that must be punished. Likewise, she refuses to write off the chances of poor women who arrive malnourished and carrying evidence of domestic abuse. When an orderly argues that women haven't earned the right to vote because they don't pay the "blood tax" of fighting wars, Powers tells him to "Look around you, Mr. Groyne. This is where every nation draws its first breath. Women have been paying the blood tax since time began." Herself unmarried and childless, Powers sees sacrifice and strength in the act of childbearing.

Fair warning - there are a lot of graphic scenes of difficult births, but overall this is a gorgeous novel.

Rich characters but the reader is left with wanting more from the storyline. Descriptive but doesn't seem to fully develop.

Beautiful and timely!
Ireland during the Spanish flu and wartime, The Pull of the Stars sees Julia trying to navigate her way as a nurse in an ill equipped hospital, trying to save the lives of pregnant women and their babies. While the story only tells three days worth of heartache, it feels like forever. Brilliant!

The parallels between this book about the 1918 flu and the present are striking, and the background in Ireland at the time is well drawn.
My only hesitation, well written as it is , that it its a touch sentimental.

Thank you to Pan Macmillan, Emma Donoghue, and netgalley for this ARC.

3.5ish stars. I really struggled with how to rate this book.

This book is about a maternity nurse in Dublin, Ireland during the Spanish Flu pandemic in 1918. It takes place over 3 days in the maternity/fever ward of a hospital.

First, what I enjoyed about the book. The main character is likable. Though there are intense parts of the book (more on that below), I didn't find it to be TOO bad. There was only one scene where I found myself holding my breath. The book moves quickly. You can imagine yourself in the nurse's shoes during her shifts. It's a time period that I have not previously read about.

On to what I didn't enjoy. I found the lack of quotation marks in the dialog to be annoying. I spent too much time trying to understand who was speaking. The book also doesn’t have chapters, just a few sections. These two things alone almost made me DNF about halfway through. But again, there were positives about the book that kept me going.

The delivery scenes are intense, and some people might find them disturbing. I wouldn’t read if pregnant or have recently lost a baby.