A topical tale indeed at this time with Covid 19. This tale tells of the 1918 flu pandemic and its effects in particular in a Maternity Unit of a Dublin hospital. Fact and fiction are well blended over a three day period. Not for the faint-hearted and certainly not to be recommended to anyone who is expecting a child! Having said that it is important to remember Emma Donoghue is describing a very different pandemic and the dangers of pregnancy over 100 years ago!!
Nurse Julia Power is well drawn and her experiences well described during a period when she is not disillusioned by all that happens around her. Amazing that this tale was able to find humour as well, as there were characters who had no idea where children came from - innocence and ignorance.
Three and a half stars for me.
Many thanks to Netgalley/Emma Donoghue/Pan Macmillan for a digital copy of this title. All opinions expressed are my own.

Title - The Pull of the Stars

Author - Emma Donoghue

Genre - Historical Fiction

Publication Date - 23rd July 2020

A Pandemic? A time where a person is still not sure how they are catching the flu and can be infected anytime. The only solution that the Government has is being in Quarantine. No, I'm not talking about our situation today but rather this book is based during World War 1 when the entire planet was in the midst of the Great Flu. Read ahead to find out what this book is all about.

Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed Maternity Ward where she is made to take care of three patients at a time who are suffering from flu as well as may go in labor any day. At the height of her stress, she is being assisted by Bridie Sweeney who was from the nearby centre and is all set to learn new things. Amidst all the drama, we find the hospital incharge of a new doctor Kathleen Lynn who is rumored to be jailed soon for taking part in the protest. The story revolves around these three women and the trials gone through for three days that would change their lives forever.

The author is pretty much known for her bestselling novel The Room and it shows the brilliance of her writing throughout. The readers are so well transported to the time and can empathise with the characters that the book almost feels too real. The book apparently has come during the perfect time when the planet is suffering from another pandemic and it shows us that life and death do not differentiate between anyone.

It took me a while to get used to the book though the book immediately jumps into the action without letting the readers take a break. Julia, the most important character of all has been portrayed as a pretty strong personality and is the life of the entire book. At times, you wish though the author had given equal importance to some other characters though but we see them playing the role pretty well and the characters stay with you even after you finish the book.

The book though disappoints at certain places. The situation at times is pretty easy going and the readers could predict what might happen next. The fate of most of the characters are known pretty ahead and the author could have tried experimenting. I would still recommend everyone to pick up this book since it pretty much relates to the current situation and has been well written.

I have received an e-copy of this book by NetGalley in exchange of an honest review.

My Ratings - 🌟🌟🌟🌟 (4 out of 5 stars)

Set in a hospital ward in Dublin during the 1918 influenza pandemic (of which I was previously unaware) “The Pull of the Stars” is a moving and heart-rending story that will remain long in my memory.

The unfortunate patients in the maternity fever ward where Nurse Julia Power works come from different backgrounds, each with their own fascinating backstory. However the potency of the virus coupled with the limited supply of medical provisions as a result of the ongoing war make Julia’s efforts all the more difficult, and tragically not all of her patients can be saved. Julia is assisted by an amazing volunteer Bridie Sweeney, who appears from nowhere seemingly like a breath of fresh air but is strangely unaware of some things but very perceptive of others.

Whilst the story is a fictional account of the time and captures the mood of the Irish citizens post-1916 rising, one of the characters is incredibly based on an actual protagonist that took part in the rising.

Although this is pandemic themed, it is totally unrelated to the current COVID crisis bar the odd mention of masks.

I still don’t know how I really feel about this, in the end it kept me interested enough to read to the end but when I say this a slow burner, well it’s so slow.

For me I found this quite hard to concentrate on and I didn’t really get the feel for it till I was 40-50% through!

However, I did really like 2 of the main characters and the bond that they had. This book will definitely be of interest for those interested in midwifery - after witnessing the birth of my nephew I thought I liked the idea of being midwife (not that I ever would) but after reading some parts of this I know I’ve made the right choice career wise 🤪

Beautifully written, a great medical insight into both midwifery and a pandemic (coincidence!) but I just didn’t connect to this the way I wanted too.

This was one of the best books I've read this year. Compelling, almost suffocating, but in a good way. I was drawn to the time and place and the story held me tightly and would not let me go. It was graphic and at times brutal but it only served to hold my attention more strongly. I've been recommending this book to everyone.

I never thought I’d read a novel about an historical pandemic whilst living within a contemporary one. But, never say never, and if you’re inclined to shy away from this one because it’s just all too much at present, I don’t blame you, but you will be missing out. This is a magnificent novel in its own right, but reading it now, whilst our world is in the grips of pandemic, was an offering of context like no other. The influenza pandemic of 1918 killed more people than WWI, an estimated three to six percent of the human race (Author note). The Pull of the Stars is set in Dublin, at the beginnings of the pandemic. It unfolds over three days within the maternity fever ward of a Dublin hospital and is narrated by a nursing midwife who has been put in charge of the ward and is expected to run it solo, after all, resources and people are stretched thin; a pandemic is raging. However, when you combine the later stages of pregnancy with a deadly flu, managing a ward of three patients is not as easy as it may seem.

‘Always on their feet, these Dublin mothers, scrimping and dishing up for their misters and chisellers, living off the scraps left on plates and gallons of weak black tea. The slums in which they somehow contrived to live were as pertinent as pulse or respiration rate, it seemed to me, but only medical observations were permitted on a chart. So instead of poverty I wrote malnourishment or debility. As code for too many pregnancies I might put anaemia, heart strain, bad back, brittle bones, varicose veins, low spirits, incontinence, fistula, torn cervix, or uterine prolapse. There was a saying I’d heard from several patients that struck a chill into my bones: She doesn’t love him unless she gives him twelve. In other countries, I’d heard women might take discreet measures, but in Ireland such things were not only illegal but unmentionable.’

This a novel about nursing, midwifery, the dangers of childbearing, a deadly influenza pandemic, WWI, the state of Ireland in the early twentieth century – both politically and socially, and, above all, humanity and our will to survive even the darkest of times. As is the way with Emma Donoghue, the devil is in the detail. So much is explored within this novel, and as detailed in the author note, all is based on historical fact. It’s not a cheery read, and at times it’s confronting and devastating, but it’s just so beautifully written, a sorrowful symphony of truth and history that is incredibly insightful and so very relevant today; possibly even more so than the author intended, given that she could not have foreseen that this novel would be released in the midst of a global pandemic of the likes she had written about.

‘All these autopsies being industriously performed all over the world, and just about the sum of what we know about this wretched influenza is that it takes about two days to incubate.
Aren’t we any closer to a vaccine, then?
She shook her head and her loose braid leapt. Until one of us manages to spot the bacterium itself on a slide… If one doesn’t know the enemy, how can one beat him? All rather humbling, she added bitterly. Here we are in the golden age of medicine– making such great strides against malaria, anthrax, rabies, diphtheria, tetanus– and a common-or-garden grip is beating us hollow.’

~~~

‘We could always blame the stars.
I beg your pardon, Doctor?
That’s what influenza means: influenza delle stelle–the influence of the stars. Medieval Italians thought the illness proved the sky must be governing their fates, that they were quite literally star-crossed.
I pictured that: the heavenly bodies trying to fly us like upside-down kites. Or perhaps just yanking on us for their obscure amusement.’

No historical novel about Ireland can ignore the political state of the day, and this is woven quite meticulously into the narrative. Doctor Lynn was an interesting character, a protestant member of Sinn Féin (Sinn Féin is a democratic socialist and left-wing party, not a Catholic one, despite misconceptions that have been fuelled over time), and she is based on an incredible real woman of the same name. I enjoyed the conversations she had with Julia (the main character) and the way in which Julia then began to unpick her notions about ‘the rebels’ and who they were and what they were trying to achieve. This relationship offers so much insight into the dangers of assumption, particularly when it is based on an outside, media driven, government propagandist view. As Doctor Lynn expressed more of her views as they got to know each other, Julia couldn’t help but come to the conclusion that she shared them.

‘Tears prickled behind my eyes. I said, I just don’t understand how a physician could have turned to the gun. Nearly five hundred people died.
She didn’t sound offended. Here’s the thing, my dear: they die anyway, from poverty rather than bullets. The way this poor island’s misgoverned, it’s mass murder by degrees. If we stand by, none of us will have clean hands.
My head was spinning. I said, faltering: I really have no time for politics.
Oh, but everything’s politics.’

Throughout the novel, health notices from the day are reproduced, ones that were distributed by the government with instructions on how to stay safe from the deadly flu. As a health professional, Julia was somewhat scathing towards them, resenting the misinformation and feeling that they were in many ways contributing to the spread of the virus by ignoring the impact of poverty on hygiene and distancing and focusing instead on making individuals responsible without offering them a means of being able to take the reins of that responsibility.

‘On the landing, yesterday’s poster hooked my attention: Would they be dead if they’d stayed in bed? I had an impulse to rip it down, but that probably constituted conduct unbecoming to a nurse, as well as treason. Yes, they’d be bloody dead, I ranted inside my head. Dead in their beds or at their kitchen tables eating their onion a day. Dead on the tram, falling down in the street, whenever the bone man happened to catch up with them. Blame the germs, the Germans, the Lord God Almighty, the unburied corpses, the dust of war, the random circulation of wind and weather. Blame the stars. Just don’t blame the dead, because none of them had wished this on themselves.’

I haven’t even come near to covering everything this novel offers, but hopefully I’ve given you enough to want to find out all the rest for yourself. It really is a brilliant read, one that will stay with me for a long time.



Thanks is extended to Pan Macmillan Australia for providing me with a copy of The Pull of the Stars for review.

This as a brilliant read. At first I didn't know if I would be able to get into it as the style of writing is quite unique but I am so glad that I did keep going as it has to be one of the best books I've read this year. Scarily similar to what we are going through now with Covid, which in a way made it so relatable and understandable. This book will stay with me for some time.

I so enjoyed Room from Emma Donoghue some years ago and The Pull of the Stars is just as poignant and beautifully written. Brilliant.

Highly recommended to all.

Thank you Pan Macmillan and Netgalley.

The Pull of the Stars is not necessarily a book I would normally pick up. It’s been a while since I read any historical fiction, but I was completely and utterly swept away by this insular, remarkable story about a nurse working during the peak of the Spanish influenza and the women she attends to over the course of a few days.

The story itself is set mostly in the very intimate environment of one hospital maternity ward, consisting of three beds. At various points throughout the three days these beds are filled and emptied by the pregnant women who pass though, all under Nurse Julia’s care – alongside volunteer Bridie. There’s life, and death, and at all times the omnipotent presence of influenza and war as these women, all from different walks of life, bond together during this terrible period of history. It’s a very well researched piece of writing, with sprinkles of real life historical events and people scattered throughout. There are references to the ‘old baring better than the young’ with regards to the flu, as well as the inclusion of Dr Lynn – a real female doctor who did a lot of campaigning during and after the outbreak and war for better nutrition, housing and sanitation for her fellow citizens in Ireland. She’s a remarkable woman who I had never heard of before, and I’m incredibly grateful to the author for bringing her to my attention.

Within the novel Dr Lynn acts as a guide for Julia, reconfirming her abilities as a nurse and caregiver and giving her the confidence to help her patients within the clinical setting. Bridie, alongside this, brings out the warmer and more compassionate side of Julia. In Bridie she sees someone she could have been had her circumstances been different. A young woman without any medical training, no reading or writing skills, yet she has an innate ability to see right through people and get them to open up about their lives. She opens Julia’s eyes to what many of her patients are going through outside the walls of the hospital. Domestic and emotional abuse, mother and baby houses, rape, child death. All are discussed in relation to the time period and demonstrate just how naïve Julia really is before Bridie steps into her life. The two women are a formidable pairing.

I also really loved just how nuanced the writing is here. Donoghue managed to interweave the Spanish influenza, war and women’s roles in society and make it come alive (and more importantly make me care deeply) all within the course of 300 pages. She drip feeds bits of these real details, such as how influenza gets its name in relation to the stars, and manages to intermingle it with her story. The flu is the influence of the stars, as is love. To star crossed lovers. It’s just stunning. I will admit that at times I did struggle with the writing style. It’s a definite acquired taste, with no speech marks (in my addition, which was a proof copy so don’t hold me to this) often making it difficult to decipher who was talking. However, I soon got used to it as the pacing is so rapid and the story so investing. I also wouldn’t necessarily recommend this if you’re at all squeamish about body and medical interventions. This put me off having any more children for life.

A beautiful story that went in a direction I wasn’t expecting but utterly feel for. A singular moment in time, perfectly captured and explored. I feel the need to read more from Donoghue, as she’s a formidable talent if any of her other historical fiction is also like this.

A very vivid story of the 1918 pandemic in Dublin. Emma Donoghue is a wonderful historical writer and each of her books is well researched. Julia, the protagonist, is a nurse on a maternity ward in the middle of Dublin, treating patients with influenza. Her voice was certainly of its time and the politics of the Great War and the (imminent) Irish Free State are scattered throughout. A must read for anyone interested in this time period.

Really enjoyed this but would warn anyone about to give birth that it might be a hard read. It follows a maternity nurse during the Spanish Flu pandemic in a Dublin hospital over the course of a few days and graphically describes the reality of giving birth back then. I felt a few too many issues were shoehorned in on top of the main story, which was more than enough in itself but it was still a great page turner. I always enjoy Emma Dnoghue books, always something to like and think about.

I love Emma Donoghue, she writes with such perception and compassion. This is another excellent page turner. It brings the plight of those suffering in 1918 into amazing detail and focus. I love how she brings the characters to life and how much we grow to love them.

“If anything was written in the stars, it was we who joined those dots, at least, and our lives were the writing.”

This has to be one of the best novels I’ve read in a very long time. It’s compelling, scarily intense, and fly-on-the-wall real. A book that sucks you in and holds you firmly in its grasp from cover to cover. And it steals a little piece of your heart that you’ll never get back.

Set in a Dublin hospital in the middle of the 1918 flu epidemic, The Pull of the Stars tells the story of spinster midwife Julia Power, as she fights for the lives of her patients and their babies. At Julia’s elbow is Bridie Sweeney, a volunteer from the children’s home, a young woman ‘stuck in the pipe’ of the Catholic Church’s care system.

The tiny, makeshift maternity / fever ward holds only three beds, but it is a room swollen by the giving and taking of life. The narrative — 300 pages of it — is condensed into three days, and all but a fraction of it takes place in this one, suffocating room. It is brutally gripping, like a car wreck you can’t tear your eyes from; the medical procedures morbidly fascinating in their detail. For three days, in this claustrophobic pressure chamber, time seems at once suspended and simultaneously hurtling out of control.

Mothers give birth, struggling to survive their labor and the fever. Babies are born, or stillborn, or born with imperfections. Julia and Bridie stoically do what they have to do. Then, out of the blue, the narrative slows, takes a breath. And, like the calm after the storm, you’re suddenly somewhere beautiful: a place so unexpectedly poignant, it takes your breath away. What a book, what an ending! A magnificent, impeccably researched, tour de force of a novel.

*DNF*

Copy kindly received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I tried to read this but it just wasn't my writing style so I put it down. The synopsis sounds good though, so I hope others will enjoy this. Just not for me.

I confess I hadn't read Donoghue before but the premise for this novel intrigued me, not least the setting so relevant to today's pandemic. Not always an easy read but compulsive and skilfully includes all kinds of issues from political to theological and beyond. I'll be looking out for this author's back catalogue now. Recommended.

Thanks to NetGalley and Pan Macmillan for ARC.

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue
I have read and loved other novels by Emma Donoghue such as Akin and Room and was therefore very keen to read this novel and I was not disappointed. It is all about the strength which some people find in even the darkest of situations.
We first encounter Julia on her bicycle cycling to catch the tram as the matron does not like her to cycle all the way as she arrives breathless and dishevelled. When she arrives she encounters Nurse Cavanagh who has just had to deal with a man arrived at the hospital only to “whoop out his lifeblood” all over her. On entering her ward she finds that Sister Finnigan is in charge of maternity so she is ward sister with no assistance.
Then a young untrained volunteer, Bridie, is sent to help her and together they manage struggle through the next three days of births, deaths and despair. Assisting them is Doctor Kathleen Lynn; on the run from the police and helping those she can while she still has her freedom. This character is based on a real person and the events which are described in the story are also grounded in real events during the 1918 flu pandemic which claimed so many lives.
The timing of this book, set during a pandemic, to arrive on our shelves during another pandemic shines a spotlight on the events unfolding around us. The story is heart breaking. As with our own Corona Virus crisis, the book highlights the incredible strain on the carers tasked with caring for the sick whilst endangering their own lives. And, is there hope for the future here? Doctor Lynn addressing a patient wisely says:-
“The human race settles on terms with every plague in the end. Or a stalemate, at the least. We somehow muddle along, sharing the earth with each new form of life.”
I feel privileged to have read this book and I want to thank the author, the publishers, and Net Galley for the opportunity to read it in return for an honest review. I thoroughly recommend it.

I read this in almost straight through in a day - the definition of impossible to put down. The focus is sharp and unrelenting, Donoghue's scrupulous detail is intense, and all together there is no break or chink where the reader might pause. You simply have to drag yourself away from the characters and their fight to live.

The plot revolves around the fight against Spanish Flu in Ireland, alongside the politics of Home Rule, the Great War and female suffrage. The constant washing of hands, wearing face masks, concern for immunity and urging from the government to avoid public gatherings are all too familiar in 2020, making a past struggle only too relevant today.

I do love an Emma Donoghue book, and the blurb of The Pull of the Stars was enticing.

We join Nurse Julia Powell in 1918 Ireland, where the country is in the midst of the flu pandemic, and she is working in a ward where expectant mothers with flu are quarantined. Understaffed and battling to help the patients the best she can, Julia is joined by young volunteer Bridie and Doctor Lynn, two people who come to mean a lot to her.

This is a dark and unsettling account of life on the wards during the flu pandemic, I couldn’t help thinking about the largely uplifting Call the Midwife series, and how this was the darker side of midwifery and medicine during times of trouble. The book also carries stark similarities of current times; the fear of disease and reality of the loss of so many lives.

The main characters are nicely thought out, and although we know little of Julia, other than that she lives with her brother who suffers from ptsd, Bridie has endured life as an orphan raised by the church and her brief accounts of the abuses sustained by herself and others carries a lot of weight and shocks Julia. Doctor Lynn was a genuine character of the time and was arrested in 1918 for her involvement with Sinn Féin (later winning a seat in parliament in 1923).

This book is incredibly graphic in terms of midwifery and obstetrics, and the tension in some scenes truly made me hold my breath. The story is set in a time of difficulty and sadness, but also allows for brief moments of happiness. There is a lot to take in in terms of the social history, and I can’t say that I enjoyed every part of the book, however it is clearly immaculately researched and there is a lot of attention to detail in the medical scenes.

Superbly written, great characters, although the story was not really my cup of tea. 3 stars

Wow, what a read this is!

I've read a couple of Emma Donoghue's books before - 'Room' and 'Akin', both of which were excellent reads, and this new story does not disappoint.

We follow Julia (Nurse Power) through a hectic few days of love, life, and death in the temporary maternity fever ward of a Dublin hospital in 1918 - with three beds inhabited by pregnant ladies suffering from the flu pandemic which is ravaging the nation and the globe.

Over the course of the few days of the story, Julia encounters two amazing ladies, alongside the patients who transit through her ward, (themselves a wealth of interesting characters). Dr Lynn is a female (shock horror!) doctor, also somewhat of a political rebel being sought out by the law for her part in the Irish politics of the day; Bridie Sweeney, a young girl, brought up in the horrors of religious "homes", arrives as a volunteer on the ward - and soon proves to be worth her weight in gold.

Though set in just a few short days, Emma Donoghue packs an immense amount of story and experience into this short timeframe. I cared deeply about the women in this story, they carry with them such a breadth of experience and history.

Highly recommended, and particularly poignant right now.

An incredibly emotional read, particularly when read during a global pandemic. So many parallels that eerily bring this cleverly told, nutshell, 72 hour storyline to vivid and often horrific life. Hugely gutsy detail and immensely believable characters. Sent shivers down my spine when I realised how the climax was going to pan out. Outstanding literature!

Set in Dublin during the influenza pandemic of 1918, in a maternity ward for expectant mothers with the virus, the story follows Nurse Power, Dr Lynn, volunteer Bridie, and the women in the ward, over the course of three days.

The timing of the publication of this book could not be more appropriate.
So much feels very familiar- the advice to wear masks, avoid touching and crowded spaces, and to, only if you really must, kiss through a handkerchief. As well as the thought that if poor children 'weren't going to school these days, they couldn't be getting their free dinners there either,' bringing to mind Marcus Rashford's free school meals victory.

It took me a while to start enjoying the story. Most of part one is description of the action on a labour ward - this brought back some undesirable "Oh gosh, I'd forgotten about that" moments of memories from my own labour (despite it being set 100 years before I gave birth, there were actually quite a few similarities!). But I also didn't know or care about the characters yet, so I wasn't empathetic about their experiences. But, by part 4 I was totally invested, and actually wish the story was drawn out for a little longer. I wanted to know more about the characters, about Dr Lynn and Bridie, and the relationships that were formed between them and Nurse Power. It still shocks me to read about some of the things that happened in Ireland's residential institutions - mother and baby centres, homes, what Bridie calls being in the pipe - no matter how many books I read or films I watch based around the subject.

I thought whilst reading the first half of this book that it might be a 3 star rating from me, but the second half focused much more on characteristion and became much more my kind of book.
⭐⭐⭐⭐/5

A word of warning: I would advise you, if you've not yet given birth but may someday like to, to be very prepared if you decide to read this!