Emma Donoghue

Dublin, 1918: three days in a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu. A small world of work, risk, death, and unlooked-for love, by the bestselling author of The Wonder and ROOM 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.

The Pull of the Stars

EMMA DONOGHUE. LTD

From the international bestselling author of Room. In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar Flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders: Doctor Kathleen Lynn, 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 classic story of hope and survival against all odds.

Eva Ströberg

The year 1918, and we're inside the Maternity ward in a hospital in Dublin following Nurse Julia Power who was trying her best to save lives of pregnant women who were also suffering from the infamous Spanish Flu. The country was in chaos, ragged with war and flu at the same time, also with the rebel group "terrorizing" the country.

Never in my life I felt so grateful for being childfree, for description of births in this book was messy and gruesome and so real. Imagine giving birth in the early 1900s with limited tools and knowledge about medicine, not to mention that it was in the time of war. 

That said, the book was gripping, (pun not intended with "grippe", the nickname of the flu back then), and it was very well-written, and you felt transformed back in that dinghy little room with Nurse Power who tried her best to save lives.

Princess Doe 

Moffatt Clarke

I had been putting off it until now not wanting a grim pandemic read. Glad I read it, though. It was intense and satisfying, a well crafted story with strong female characters and a compelling look midwifery during the Spanish flue and pre-Republic Ireland.

Ryan Mateyk

I enjoyed this, which has come to be the expectation from Emma Donoghue (we don't discuss Frog Music in this household). Her versatility really is remarkable – the fact that she can go from Room to The Wonder to this is wildly impressive. 

The Pull of the Stars is a window into another time, or I guess in our current circumstances, it’s kind of like a weird, time-travelling mirror. It follows Julia Powers, a nurse/midwife in an overcrowded Dublin hospital in the midst of the 1918 Great Flu pandemic. Over the course of three days, Julia goes about her day-to-day but is changed by her handful of patients, a revolutionary feminist doctor Kathleen Lynn and an exuberant young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. I feel like the characters were never dug into too deeply, but it didn’t really detract as, like I mentioned, this was just a window into three short days in 1918. 

My one gripe was the lack of quotation marks. I know lots of books opt out of using quotation marks to indicate dialogue, but I found it made it a bit difficult to read, and never really got easier the further into the story I got – mostly because Julia (the narrator) was in her head a lot, had a lot of thoughts, but they would often switch to dialogue in the same passage. 

Another win from Emma Donoghue in my books!

Allison Dempsey

I was interested in the plot but ultimately quit reading it. I couldn’t follow any of the dialogue. There’s a reason it’s conventional for authors to write with quotation marks.

Patricia Nelson

Very well written book about the pandemic of 1918 set in a hospital in Dublin, Ireland. The main character is a maternity nurse/midwife, and the story is told over three days in which she must try to save women and infants who are battling poverty, influenza, mistreatment, and difficult deliveries. There is much to discuss with this story, and somehow the author manages to address many topics without the reader getting whiplash with topic changes, including the horrible conditions due to WWI or the pandemic or poverty, the perspective of Nurse Powers versus that of Bridie, a volunteer who has grown up with literally nothing, finding love in unlikely places, societal 'norms' for mothers and infants, the role of women during the war, even the political upheaval of the time in Ireland. Highly recommend for a book club book to discuss.

Lisa Lindquist 

Quick synopsis: The Pull of the Stars follows three days in a maternity ward for women with influenza during the 1918 pandemic, in which the main character, Nurse Julia, befriends Bridie, an eager hospital assistant. Together they endure intimate, sorrowful and hopeful moments in their short time together. Meanwhile a cast of hospital staff, each with their own back stories heavily impacted by ongoing World War I, rounds out the story's characters.

What I loved: Set over three days, the book feels like a whirlwind, with days blending together and immersing you in the story. The way in which author Emma Donoghue wrote about birth as a process was phenomenal and realistic.

What didn't work for me: The ending was so swift with little build up — for a roughly 300 page book, I'd say the novel's climax didn't hit until the last 15-20 pages, and it felt rushed in a way that left me wanting for more details, though I'd say it did leave me with a hopeful outlook for the characters.

Nicole Garner Meeker

Quick synopsis: The Pull of the Stars follows three days in a maternity ward for women with influenza during the 1918 pandemic, in which the main character, Nurse Julia, befriends Bridie, an eager hospital assistant. Together they endure intimate, sorrowful and hopeful moments in their short time together. Meanwhile a cast of hospital staff, each with their own back stories heavily impacted by ongoing World War I, rounds out the story's characters.

What I loved: Set over three days, the book feels like a whirlwind, with days blending together and immersing you in the story. The way in which author Emma Donoghue wrote about birth as a process was phenomenal and realistic.

What didn't work for me: The ending was so swift with little build up — for a roughly 300 page book, I'd say the novel's climax didn't hit until the last 15-20 pages, and it felt rushed in a way that left me wanting for more details, though I'd say it did leave me with a hopeful outlook for the characters.

THE NEW #1 BESTSELLER FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE WONDER AND ROOM Dublin, 1918: three days in a maternity ward at the height of the great flu. A small world of work, risk, death and unlooked-for love, by the bestselling author of The Wonder and Room. In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, 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, 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, caregivers 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.

A Novel

Gisela Ayala 

The Pull of the Stars takes place over three days (ONLY THREE DAYS) during the Great Flu during The Great War (because thing could only get worse right...). I thought to myself what can happen in three days? The first couple chapters are your standard get to know the character and setting chapters but after those couple of chapters WOW, does it take a turn and everything happens in the maternity ward. But what made me so amazed was the bravery and intelligence of our main character, Julia who was the main (and only nurse) on duty in that ward. It made me think of our current global situation and all the brave nurses and doctors out there using their skills to take care of people despite the dangers presented to themselves. I always say it takes a very special person do something so selfless.

If you like historical fiction, this is right for you. The author did a lot of research and inserted real people from that time into the story to make it all the more real and emotional.

Dee B. 

Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review.
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Oof this one hits way too close to our present day. The pandemic parallels left me uneasy, but it also helped me get even further into the story. I didn't need to suspend belief the way I would have before 2020 so I was able to just focus on the characters and the plot instead of being horrified that a flu could devastate the human system quite so seriously.

Now for the real reason why you should pick this book up. This book is hard to read; these characters do not have an easy time of existing in the midst of their world being a constant chaos, and yet they do not stop showing up every day and giving their all to preserve life. You fall in love with each and every character you come across, no matter how little time you have with them even as you watch the realities of life ram into them time and again.
 
The lines that sum up this book and this life is "we'll go to sleep then, very soon. That's all we have to do for tonight. And then when we wake up tomorrow - We'll see what we'll see." There's no preparing for life during a pandemic, it just is. Donoghue's world is gritty and gory, and if you're squeamish this may not sit well with you, but life and childbirth are gritty and gory and oftentimes life threatening.

Three days have never felt so long and yet so short. Read this for the tender moments, read this for the tense moments. Just read this.

Jess Johansson

Incredible and dynamic story telling - I was pulled in from the first words. I've also never been so acutely aware of my cervix while reading a book.

The Sunday Times bestseller and Richard & Judy Book Club Pick, from the acclaimed author of Room. 'Moving, gripping and dazzlingly written' – Stylist Dublin, 1918. In a country doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar flu are quarantined together. Into Julia’s regimented world step two outsiders: Doctor Kathleen Lynn, on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney. In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over the course of 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 tells an unforgettable and deeply moving story of love and loss. Guardian, Cosmopolitan and Telegraph's 'Books of the Year'

The Richard & Judy Book Club Pick and Sunday Times Bestseller

Fraser Simons

This has some lovely moments but does tend to drag and shuffle in between them. Voice was good, though. Completely fine. Does what it says it does on the tin, eh.

Cindy Lieberman

A fascinating look at three days in the life of a nurse in Ireland during the last global pandemic (Spanish Flu). This front-line worker served in a makeshift ward for pregnant women with the flu, dealing with the heartbreak of death and the (all-too-often) heartbreak of life for the women and children.

Anna Campbell

** spoiler alert **
           4.5 Stars! This was such a quick read, a whole beautiful book set in three days, three shifts in one small room in a hospital. We learned such depths of stories about Julia, Bridie and Dr Lynn. I loved every minute of Bridie, every small wonder she got to learn, and every second of the night on the rooftop. Julia shocked me with falling in love so quickly, and in demanding and fighting for little Barnabas. I like to think that Julia and Tim raise him so half together, and that Julia finds love again. Such a beautiful story, perfection.

Nadine 

Historical fiction set over a couple of days in a maternity "fever" ward of a Dublin hospital. Appears to be well researched and was interesting in a very confined limited way that left me a little unsatisfied at the end. 
But it was well contained and well written so I'm not sure what disappointed me.

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 fallen sick are quarantined into a separate ward to keep the plague at bay. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders, a woman doctor who is a rumored Rebel, and a teenage girl, Bridie, procured by the nuns from their orphanage as an extra set of hands. At first, this Bridie seems unschooled in life, she makes up a bed with only the rubber mat and savors the weak tea and barely edible porridge from the hospital kitchen. But in the intensity of this ward, over three brutal days, Julia and the women come together in unexpected ways.

Freeda Lobo

25 pages, and I can't force myself any more! I can't bear the fact that there is absolutely no punctuation. I don't know what the protagonist feels at all with just mere words. It feels like some flesh with no blood flowing through it! It's dead meat to me. I never imagined it to be such a disappointment.

Rose Stanley

Twelfth book of Tis the Damn Readathon
Album: Reputation
Prompt: Reputation (read a book that is romance within a separate genre)
(The separate genre in this case being historical fiction, and the romance being EXTREMELY brief)

Hoo boy. This book is GRAPHIC. It's basically this song https://youtu.be/VHIXduEbLz0 in book form (yeah nope I am never having kids nope nope nope) with the added bonus that nearly all the characters are suffering from the Spanish 'flu (hence The Pull of the Stars - influenza delle stelle). 

Why yes I did decide to read a book about a pandemic. During a pandemic.

A surprisingly quick read and a fascinating insight into the maternity wards of a century ago, if a little heavy-handed at times. Also I definitely want to read more about Dr Kathleen Lynn now.

erin s

"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.

Carly Boyer

** spoiler alert **
           More of a 3.5** but I rounded up! Wish they would stop killing off lesbians 3

Tori Carrillo

Amazing. Powerful. Moving. This book which is set in only three days time has everything. I listened to the first 75% on audio which was beautiful, the narrator does a brilliant job at capturing the voice and action and story. When I started following along with the physical book, I noticed that the author has a unique writing style, which probably only worked for me because I started it on audio first. Each character has an opportunity to learn from each other in this story and you get to sit with them in that. The ending was heartbreaking and hopeful which I feel is such a delicate balance, done so well! Cannot wait to read more by this author.

Renee Blankenship

Wow! Such an unforgettable story, especially reading this during our current times. I am really glad I waited to read it until after I had my baby in June. A lot of the story revolves around maternal fetal medicine, which during the early 1900's and a war shortage, was pretty basic. I found myself flinching through a lot of the descriptions of procedures and really cannot understand how these women survived delivering their babies with such rudimentary medicine and tools! 

The story of Julia and her assistant Bridie (I LOVED Bridie!) was my favorite part of the book. Their journey together over such a short time, the relationship that grew from their shared experiences was truly the most hopeful part of the book! I loved the ending too, it was PERFECT. 

Also, bonus points for Donoghue crafting a title that pulled on my heartstrings- the meaning behind it spoke volumes for the time period and our lives today.

The Pull of the Stars

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