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Available
Call number
Genres
Collection
Publication
Little, Brown and Company (2020), Edition: Unabridged, 304 pages
Description
Fiction. Literature. Historical Fiction. LGBTQIA+ (Fiction.) HTML:In Dublin, 1918, a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu is a small world of work, risk, death, and unlooked-for love, in "Donoghue's best novel since Room" (Kirkus Reviews). 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 od… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member gypsysmom
I would have found this book an excellent read at any time but given our current circumstances this novel set in a hospital in Dublin in 1918 during the Spanish influenza was one I could not put down. The really interesting feature about this book is that Emma Donoghue had no inkling it would be
Julia Power works as a midwife and nursing sister in a hospital in one of the poorest areas in Dublin. World War I is still raging in October 1918 but the Spanish influenza is waging war right in Dublin. Nurse Power has been assigned to assist in a small ward dedicated to expectant mothers with influenza. On the morning of October 31 she is told that her supervisor is needed on another ward and she will be on her own. Three patients for one nurse doesn't sound too bad but when there is no-one else helping with chores Nurse Power is run off her feet. Thankfully a volunteer is assigned but Bridie Sweeney is completely untrained. She is very willing though and Julia finds her to be very quick at learning what has to be done. Also available at critical times is Doctor Kathleen Lynn who is a general practitioner but has specialized training in obstetrics and maternity. Unfortunately Dr. Lynn (a real person living in Dublin in 1918) is wanted by the police for anti-British activities. She can only hide from them for so long. Nurse Power isn't even sure she approves of Dr. Lynn's politics but she does appreciate her expertise. The novel encompasses only 3 days but so much happens that they seemed to last forever.
Having never given birth myself there was a lot of new information in this book about complications. I am even more in awe of those women I know who have delivered children and also those people who assist women in childbirth. Nurse Power and Bridie Sweeney may not be based on real people of those names but they are surely based on actual people who help deliver babies and care for the mothers. Donoghue mentions several in her author's note at the end of the book.
I really appreciated how deftly Donoghue wove in details about rampant poverty and the Irish quest for independence from Britain with the central story. This is an historical novel that puts the reader right in that time and place. Highly recommended.
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released during the 21st century's equivalent to the Spanish influenza. She finished it in late 2019 and delivered the last draft to her publisher in March 2020 expecting it would come out in about 8 months; instead when COVID-19 ramped up to a global pandemic Harper Collins worked with Donoghue to release it in four months. I understand that some people living through the pandemic don't want to read anything associated with another one but I'm the kind of person that believes we need to learn from previous examples and I welcome this book.Julia Power works as a midwife and nursing sister in a hospital in one of the poorest areas in Dublin. World War I is still raging in October 1918 but the Spanish influenza is waging war right in Dublin. Nurse Power has been assigned to assist in a small ward dedicated to expectant mothers with influenza. On the morning of October 31 she is told that her supervisor is needed on another ward and she will be on her own. Three patients for one nurse doesn't sound too bad but when there is no-one else helping with chores Nurse Power is run off her feet. Thankfully a volunteer is assigned but Bridie Sweeney is completely untrained. She is very willing though and Julia finds her to be very quick at learning what has to be done. Also available at critical times is Doctor Kathleen Lynn who is a general practitioner but has specialized training in obstetrics and maternity. Unfortunately Dr. Lynn (a real person living in Dublin in 1918) is wanted by the police for anti-British activities. She can only hide from them for so long. Nurse Power isn't even sure she approves of Dr. Lynn's politics but she does appreciate her expertise. The novel encompasses only 3 days but so much happens that they seemed to last forever.
Having never given birth myself there was a lot of new information in this book about complications. I am even more in awe of those women I know who have delivered children and also those people who assist women in childbirth. Nurse Power and Bridie Sweeney may not be based on real people of those names but they are surely based on actual people who help deliver babies and care for the mothers. Donoghue mentions several in her author's note at the end of the book.
I really appreciated how deftly Donoghue wove in details about rampant poverty and the Irish quest for independence from Britain with the central story. This is an historical novel that puts the reader right in that time and place. Highly recommended.
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LibraryThing member Cariola
Emma Donoghue is an author whose work I usually enjoy, but once in a while, she pulls a "meh" on me. 'The Pull of the Stars' is one of those books. Set in Dublin in the midst of the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic, it focuses on Julia Power, a nurse in charge of a small ward (three at a time) whose
The premise is a captivating one especially as we sit in the midst of a pandemic of our own. The author has done her research on the Spanish flu, on the treatment and care of pregnant women in the time period, on the effects of the war on returning young men--and therein lies the problem. I felt bogged down by the medical details, to the point that they overwhelmed the characters. It was like Donoghue didn't want to let go of any detail that she ran across. If you are a medical professional, all this might fascinate you. If not, you might get bored, as I did, with the shallow, stereotypical characters that the author left room for. Julia is too perfect, Bridie too eager and naive, Dr. Lynn too heroic, the supervising nun too cold and judgmental, and the patients could be summed up as The Rich Bitch, The Frightened Young Mom, The Weary Mother of Too Many, and The Fallen Woman Trying to Hide Her Past. The saving grace is in a few one-on-one conversations between Julia and either Dr. Lynn or Bridie and the scene of Julia's birthday celebration with her brother. For those, and for Donoghue's usual fine writing, I'm giving this book three stars, but overall, it was a disappointment.
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patients are pregnant women who are showing symptoms of the flu. The hospital is woefully understaffed, so a young volunteer named Bridie Sweeney is assigned to assist Julia. One patient, a mother many times over, is delusional; another is a very young first-time mother, and the third is a well-off woman who constantly complains that she wants to go home. The novel mainly consists of Julia's interactions with her patents, with Bridie, with the aging nun who acts as her supervisor, and with Dr. Kathleen Lynn, who took part in the 1926 uprising and may be wanted by the police. There are also a few scenes with her brother, a former soldier who returned shell shocked from the trenches in France.The premise is a captivating one especially as we sit in the midst of a pandemic of our own. The author has done her research on the Spanish flu, on the treatment and care of pregnant women in the time period, on the effects of the war on returning young men--and therein lies the problem. I felt bogged down by the medical details, to the point that they overwhelmed the characters. It was like Donoghue didn't want to let go of any detail that she ran across. If you are a medical professional, all this might fascinate you. If not, you might get bored, as I did, with the shallow, stereotypical characters that the author left room for. Julia is too perfect, Bridie too eager and naive, Dr. Lynn too heroic, the supervising nun too cold and judgmental, and the patients could be summed up as The Rich Bitch, The Frightened Young Mom, The Weary Mother of Too Many, and The Fallen Woman Trying to Hide Her Past. The saving grace is in a few one-on-one conversations between Julia and either Dr. Lynn or Bridie and the scene of Julia's birthday celebration with her brother. For those, and for Donoghue's usual fine writing, I'm giving this book three stars, but overall, it was a disappointment.
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LibraryThing member RidgewayGirl
As a nurse working in a busy Dublin hospital during the influenza epidemic, Julia is used to hard work and figuring things out on the fly, but for three days, when too many nurses are out sick, she's the only nurse for a small fever ward for pregnant women and her only help is an untrained, but
Emma Donoghue does such a good job with historical fiction and her novels are always so well-researched. This novel is no exception, digging into what hospitals in Dublin looked like a century ago, the impact the First World War had on the men who were lucky enough to return, the Irish struggle for independence, how Catholic charities treated both unwed mothers and their offspring, and what giving birth looked like, among other things. In the end, the history took precedence over the story, with the majority of the book simply following Julia as she tries to care for the women on her ward as best she can. The final section of the book segues abruptly into Julia's personal life and what might have been an integral part of the story was simply tacked on to the end and felt unlikely, largely because so many huge events happened on top of each other.
This novel is worthwhile for a well-written look at a specific time and place, but if you prefer more story and less detail, this one's not for you. I enjoyed it, but I prefer the novels where Donoghue allows her characters to exist fully as people, although I learned a ton about what a horror giving birth was in Ireland a hundred years ago and there's one particularly vile procedure, called a symphysiotomy, that was in use until the 1980s, because although it caused permanent pain and disability to the woman, it preserved her ability to have more children. If your reaction to that is, "oh, that sounds interesting," read this novel, but if you just want great historical fiction, choose Frog Music or Slammerkin instead.
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willing girl from a Catholic orphanage. Emma Donoghue does such a good job with historical fiction and her novels are always so well-researched. This novel is no exception, digging into what hospitals in Dublin looked like a century ago, the impact the First World War had on the men who were lucky enough to return, the Irish struggle for independence, how Catholic charities treated both unwed mothers and their offspring, and what giving birth looked like, among other things. In the end, the history took precedence over the story, with the majority of the book simply following Julia as she tries to care for the women on her ward as best she can. The final section of the book segues abruptly into Julia's personal life and what might have been an integral part of the story was simply tacked on to the end and felt unlikely, largely because so many huge events happened on top of each other.
This novel is worthwhile for a well-written look at a specific time and place, but if you prefer more story and less detail, this one's not for you. I enjoyed it, but I prefer the novels where Donoghue allows her characters to exist fully as people, although I learned a ton about what a horror giving birth was in Ireland a hundred years ago and there's one particularly vile procedure, called a symphysiotomy, that was in use until the 1980s, because although it caused permanent pain and disability to the woman, it preserved her ability to have more children. If your reaction to that is, "oh, that sounds interesting," read this novel, but if you just want great historical fiction, choose Frog Music or Slammerkin instead.
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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne
If you need to be reminded that it could be so much worse: The pull of the stars is about a nurse/midwife caring for very pregnant patients with influenza for three days in Dublin, 1918. This is very well written. For all the horrible things that are going on, the book never stops hope.
LibraryThing member quondame
Very readable, briskly moving account of 3 days in the company of nurse Julia Powers on the makeshift influenza/maternity ward of a Dublin hospital in the last gasp of the Great War. I avoid Irish and WW settings, so why I checked this out, I can't say. The WW aspect wasn't bad, but it had
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everything that cause me to avoid Irish settings. Show Less
LibraryThing member msf59
Ireland- 1918, wedged between a world war and the Spanish Flu. Nurse Julia Power is our main character, dueling with a small maternity ward and her plague ridden patients. She offers the best support and care she can, against an archaic system. The characters are all wonderful here, the good, the
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bad and the middling. Fans of Call the Midwife and riveting, historical fiction will surely find much to admire here. Man, I love Donoghue and she delivers once again with this timely novel. Show Less
LibraryThing member Veronica.Sparrow
I am so glad I had the chance to read this book. I had read a previous novel by Emma Donoghue but I did not expect to enjoy this book even more than the first book.
I have always been fascinated by the Flu Pandemic of 1918 and it was basically family lore as my great grandfather died in the
Nurse Julia Powers works in a ward with expectant mothers who have contacted the flu. Julia has already had the flu which is one less worry for her. She is dealing with tragic and heart breaking situations where no matter how hard she tries she is going to lose some patients. Each death of a mother or baby lays heavier on her heart. She is also trying to look after her brother who came back from the Great War psycologically scarred.
I became so emotionally involved with Julia and her patients. It must have been awful during the pandemic. They didn't really know the exact cause of the pandemic, or how to treat it effectively. Antibiotics did not exist at that time. I also appreciated learning more about Doctor Kathleen Lynn who was a rebel on the run from the police.
Once again, I ended up in tears at the end of a book by Emma Donoghue. I was so happy for her but then devasted at the end. No, I will not give any spoilers away. This is another exceptional novel by Emma Donoghue.
I have always been fascinated by the Flu Pandemic of 1918 and it was basically family lore as my great grandfather died in the
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pandemic.Nurse Julia Powers works in a ward with expectant mothers who have contacted the flu. Julia has already had the flu which is one less worry for her. She is dealing with tragic and heart breaking situations where no matter how hard she tries she is going to lose some patients. Each death of a mother or baby lays heavier on her heart. She is also trying to look after her brother who came back from the Great War psycologically scarred.
I became so emotionally involved with Julia and her patients. It must have been awful during the pandemic. They didn't really know the exact cause of the pandemic, or how to treat it effectively. Antibiotics did not exist at that time. I also appreciated learning more about Doctor Kathleen Lynn who was a rebel on the run from the police.
Once again, I ended up in tears at the end of a book by Emma Donoghue. I was so happy for her but then devasted at the end. No, I will not give any spoilers away. This is another exceptional novel by Emma Donoghue.
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LibraryThing member shelleyraec
“That’s what influenza means, she said. Influenza delle stelle—the influence of the stars.“
When Emma Donoghue wrote The Pull of the Stars, inspired by the centenary of the influenza pandemic (also known as the Spanish Flu) of 1918 which was responsible for the deaths of up to 50million
Set in Ireland, The Pull of the Stars is told from the first-person perspective of Julia Power, a thirty year old maternity nurse. It is October of 1918, The Great War is still a month away from its end, and a deadly strain of Influenza is spreading rapidly through the world’s population. In an overcrowded, under-resourced and understaffed Dublin hospital, Julia finds herself in charge of a makeshift ward for pregnant mothers with symptoms of influenza.
At just under 300 pages, The Pull of the Stars is a short, well paced novel. Ominously the chapters are titled Red - Brown - Blue - Black for the visible progression of respiratory distress on the skin as a result of influenza.
“The old world was changed utterly, dying on its feet, and a new one was struggling to be born.”
The events in the book take place over an intense period of just three days, largely within the tiny temporary ward, as Julia battles, sometimes in vain, to preserve the life of the mothers and their babies in her care. As the losses threaten to eclipse the wins, Julia grows increasingly worn and heartsick but a young volunteer from a nearby Convent Home, Bridie Sweeney, quickly proves to be an intuitive and able assistant, and is for Julia, a revelation.
"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."
It is a challenging fight for the medical profession against an enemy they cannot see, armed with little more than the most rudimentary of treatments - carbolic soap, mustard poultices, whiskey and ipecac syrup. Though no one is safe and many die within a few days of Influenza infection, pregnant women are at particular risk, as are their unborn children. Donoghue is quite explicit in both the effects of influenza, and the experience of the labouring mothers, which has the potential to shock.
“Some placed their trust in treacle to ward off this flu, others in rhubarb, as if there had to be one household substance that could save us all. I’d even met fools who credited their safety to the wearing of red.”
Despite the narrowness of the physical setting, and the single narrative perspective, The Pull of the Stars explores a number of issues. Most notably those related to women’s physical and emotional experience of pregnancy, motherhood, marriage, and institutional abuse, particularly among the poorest of women. Donoghue also touches on the political climate of Ireland during the period including the fallout of The Great War and The Easter Rising conflict, and the reaction of the government and populace to the pandemic, which is not unlike our own today. I like to think ‘the wearing of red’ in the quote above is a deliberate swipe at Trump’s MAGA hat-wearing virus deniers.
“The bone man was in the room. I could hear him rattling, snickering.”
I found The Pull of the Stars to be a timely, poignant and compelling historical novel which will resonate with readers today.
When Emma Donoghue wrote The Pull of the Stars, inspired by the centenary of the influenza pandemic (also known as the Spanish Flu) of 1918 which was responsible for the deaths of up to 50million
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people worldwide, she had no idea that the book’s release in 2020 would coincide with another deadly global pandemic, COVID-19.Set in Ireland, The Pull of the Stars is told from the first-person perspective of Julia Power, a thirty year old maternity nurse. It is October of 1918, The Great War is still a month away from its end, and a deadly strain of Influenza is spreading rapidly through the world’s population. In an overcrowded, under-resourced and understaffed Dublin hospital, Julia finds herself in charge of a makeshift ward for pregnant mothers with symptoms of influenza.
At just under 300 pages, The Pull of the Stars is a short, well paced novel. Ominously the chapters are titled Red - Brown - Blue - Black for the visible progression of respiratory distress on the skin as a result of influenza.
“The old world was changed utterly, dying on its feet, and a new one was struggling to be born.”
The events in the book take place over an intense period of just three days, largely within the tiny temporary ward, as Julia battles, sometimes in vain, to preserve the life of the mothers and their babies in her care. As the losses threaten to eclipse the wins, Julia grows increasingly worn and heartsick but a young volunteer from a nearby Convent Home, Bridie Sweeney, quickly proves to be an intuitive and able assistant, and is for Julia, a revelation.
"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."
It is a challenging fight for the medical profession against an enemy they cannot see, armed with little more than the most rudimentary of treatments - carbolic soap, mustard poultices, whiskey and ipecac syrup. Though no one is safe and many die within a few days of Influenza infection, pregnant women are at particular risk, as are their unborn children. Donoghue is quite explicit in both the effects of influenza, and the experience of the labouring mothers, which has the potential to shock.
“Some placed their trust in treacle to ward off this flu, others in rhubarb, as if there had to be one household substance that could save us all. I’d even met fools who credited their safety to the wearing of red.”
Despite the narrowness of the physical setting, and the single narrative perspective, The Pull of the Stars explores a number of issues. Most notably those related to women’s physical and emotional experience of pregnancy, motherhood, marriage, and institutional abuse, particularly among the poorest of women. Donoghue also touches on the political climate of Ireland during the period including the fallout of The Great War and The Easter Rising conflict, and the reaction of the government and populace to the pandemic, which is not unlike our own today. I like to think ‘the wearing of red’ in the quote above is a deliberate swipe at Trump’s MAGA hat-wearing virus deniers.
“The bone man was in the room. I could hear him rattling, snickering.”
I found The Pull of the Stars to be a timely, poignant and compelling historical novel which will resonate with readers today.
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LibraryThing member Twink
If Emma Donoghue writes it - I need to read it. I've been waiting for The Pull of the Stars to release - and I couldn't help myself - I finished it in a day. Yes, it's that good (as are all of Donoghue's books)
Donoghue wrote The Pull of the Stars before Covid 19 came about. But the similarities are
The Pull of the Stars takes place over three days in a maternity quarantine ward in a hospital in Dublin - at the height of the 1918 Flu Pandemic.
Julia Power is in charge of the three bed ward as there are very few nurses to go around. The local nunnery provides young Bridie as a helper for Julia. And the third of this triangle is Dr. Lynn. Kathleen Lynn is an actual historical figure who was a pioneer in her field - and deeds. I truly enjoy Donoghue's blending of fact and fiction in her books.
The setting is so detailed, I felt like I was in the little ward, struggling to grab just a bit of the fresh air trying to get in through the wee window. The smells, the lack of privacy, the desperate struggle to just breathe. All while pregnant. The descriptions of childbirth are visceral - and again, true to the time. Julia's care of the sick women in her care and her sense of duty are impeccable. But there are cracks in her carefully cultivated public persona. Her obligations do battle with her want of more. More for her patients, more for women - and more for herself. A partner, a confidant, a child. Bridie's enthusiasm, quickness in mind and body and her outlook on life despite the hardships she has endured will endear her to the reader. Donoghue does a fantastic job as well at bring Dr. Lynn to life. A woman truly ahead of her time.
Ahh, this book is heartbreaking. The treatment of women during this time period, the mortality rate of infants, the Catholic Church's abuse of power, life and death, the effects of war and so much more. But the spark of light (and pull of the stars) lives in these pages too. A story you won't be able to put down.
So very, very well written.
Donoghue wrote The Pull of the Stars before Covid 19 came about. But the similarities are
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frightening. History truly does repeat itself.The Pull of the Stars takes place over three days in a maternity quarantine ward in a hospital in Dublin - at the height of the 1918 Flu Pandemic.
Julia Power is in charge of the three bed ward as there are very few nurses to go around. The local nunnery provides young Bridie as a helper for Julia. And the third of this triangle is Dr. Lynn. Kathleen Lynn is an actual historical figure who was a pioneer in her field - and deeds. I truly enjoy Donoghue's blending of fact and fiction in her books.
The setting is so detailed, I felt like I was in the little ward, struggling to grab just a bit of the fresh air trying to get in through the wee window. The smells, the lack of privacy, the desperate struggle to just breathe. All while pregnant. The descriptions of childbirth are visceral - and again, true to the time. Julia's care of the sick women in her care and her sense of duty are impeccable. But there are cracks in her carefully cultivated public persona. Her obligations do battle with her want of more. More for her patients, more for women - and more for herself. A partner, a confidant, a child. Bridie's enthusiasm, quickness in mind and body and her outlook on life despite the hardships she has endured will endear her to the reader. Donoghue does a fantastic job as well at bring Dr. Lynn to life. A woman truly ahead of her time.
Ahh, this book is heartbreaking. The treatment of women during this time period, the mortality rate of infants, the Catholic Church's abuse of power, life and death, the effects of war and so much more. But the spark of light (and pull of the stars) lives in these pages too. A story you won't be able to put down.
So very, very well written.
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LibraryThing member Hccpsk
Much has already been written about the timeliness of Emma Donoghue’s The Pull of the Stars, a novel about the 1918 flu pandemic publishing amidst the 2020 pandemic. The parallels cannot be missed, and they certainly make aspects of the story more interesting. The entire book unfolds over three
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days in the maternity ward of a flu hospital with nurse Julia Powers as she works to save mothers and children. Thoroughly researched and detailed, it’s Donoghue’s stylistic choices--no chapters (just large sections), no quotation marks, no indentations--that create a page-turning sense of urgency and perpetuity. The ending feels a bit forced and predictable, but the bulk of the book is well-plotted, well-written, and highly recommended for readers of historical fiction who don’t mind a bit of medical gore. Show Less
LibraryThing member brangwinn
If you read Donoghue’s Room, you know how much tension she can bring to an exceedingly small area. It was hard for me to believe that a novel set in Dublin maternity fever ward with barely enough room for three cots could be a page turner, but it is. And how she managed to write a book about that
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deadly influenza pandemic at the most appropriate time is another marvel. Nurse Julia Powers finds herself coping with much more than she expected as hospital staff members succumb to the flu. She’s in charge of a maternity ward for influenza survivors and finds herself forced to deliver several babies alone. The hospital is so desperate for help they’ve called in a female doctor, Doctor Lynn, who was active in the Sinn Fein 1916 uprising. Dr. Lynn was a real person and as she and Nurse Powers work together, she helps to open Julie’s eyes as to why the Sinn Fein did what they did. Another angel in disguise, a young orphan, Bridie, with lots of experience in poverty and pain, volunteers to help. Like all good historical fiction, it educates the reader. In this case, its about the flu, the Irish Uprising, and what growing up as a orphan under the thumb of the Catholic Church is like. Show Less
LibraryThing member wagner.sarah35
Emma Donoghue is a reliably wonderful writer and this tale is incredibly timely. Like the best historical fiction, this novel evokes the past and tells us something about the present. Set in Ireland during the 1918 flu pandemic, the small world of a hospital ward serving pregnant women who also
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have the flu manages to touch on the First World War, the Irish fight for independence, the advent of women's suffrage, the harsh conditions of children raised by nuns, sexuality, death, and motherhood. And, impressively for the amount of death in the book, manages to leave on with some hope by the end. If you're looking for a novel that captures both the past and echoes of current events without being hopeless, this certainly one to check out. Show Less
LibraryThing member jmchshannon
It may seem like insanity to read a book about a pandemic while currently living through a pandemic. And not just any pandemic but THE pandemic, the one to which all experts compare our current COVID pandemic – the Spanish Influenza epidemic. However, in the capable hands of Emma Donoghue, The
Told through the eyes of one Julia Power, we experience her life as a midwife living in Dublin in 1919 before the end of the Great War but still in the midst of the Spanish Influenza pandemic. We experience three days as the head nurse of an isolated maternity ward for those pregnant women who have the flu. Short of staff and room, we see her come into her own as she must make life-or-death decisions while providing comfort and care to her patients.
Julia is a remarkable character, so well-defined that you forget that she is fictional. Her experiences in those three days are insane and yet one gets the impression that they are also completely normal. Her constant level-headedness and, most importantly, the compassion she shows each of her patients are a refreshing reminder of how people should act in times of crisis.
So much of the story could happen today. Through her patients and through her own commute to and from work we see the same poverty, the same loss, the same abuse, the same scorn for anyone who is different. Even eerier, we read posters that talk about keeping your distance from others to stay healthy, we see people wearing masks to protect themselves, and we see the fear that occurs when someone in public sneezes or coughs. Yet, at no time did I feel uncomfortable about reading the novel. If anything, there is a strange comfort one finds in understanding how little things change sometimes, even when it should.
The one thing The Pull of the Stars did do is to reinforce my belief that the Catholic Church is not only hypocritical but also evil in the damage it has done to those they profess to protect. Taking place in the very Catholic Dublin in a Catholic hospital no less, one encounters the policies established by the Church in a myriad of ways. However, it is the impact of those policies and the Catholic belief system on the women in Julia’s care which drive home that hypocrisy.
The Pull of the Stars is a remarkable story for several reasons. For one, Julia Power is a fascinating character. She doesn’t do anything other than act with compassion, but you finish the novel thinking her the wisest of women. For another, the story has a timeless quality to it because the social issues Julia sees occurring within her own little ward occur across time. Lastly, it reinforces today’s messaging about mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing as the only acceptable ways to maintain your health while the current influenza virus rages around the globe.
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Pull of the Stars becomes a story so much more than its setting with its universal themes of hope, love, and compassion.Told through the eyes of one Julia Power, we experience her life as a midwife living in Dublin in 1919 before the end of the Great War but still in the midst of the Spanish Influenza pandemic. We experience three days as the head nurse of an isolated maternity ward for those pregnant women who have the flu. Short of staff and room, we see her come into her own as she must make life-or-death decisions while providing comfort and care to her patients.
Julia is a remarkable character, so well-defined that you forget that she is fictional. Her experiences in those three days are insane and yet one gets the impression that they are also completely normal. Her constant level-headedness and, most importantly, the compassion she shows each of her patients are a refreshing reminder of how people should act in times of crisis.
So much of the story could happen today. Through her patients and through her own commute to and from work we see the same poverty, the same loss, the same abuse, the same scorn for anyone who is different. Even eerier, we read posters that talk about keeping your distance from others to stay healthy, we see people wearing masks to protect themselves, and we see the fear that occurs when someone in public sneezes or coughs. Yet, at no time did I feel uncomfortable about reading the novel. If anything, there is a strange comfort one finds in understanding how little things change sometimes, even when it should.
The one thing The Pull of the Stars did do is to reinforce my belief that the Catholic Church is not only hypocritical but also evil in the damage it has done to those they profess to protect. Taking place in the very Catholic Dublin in a Catholic hospital no less, one encounters the policies established by the Church in a myriad of ways. However, it is the impact of those policies and the Catholic belief system on the women in Julia’s care which drive home that hypocrisy.
The Pull of the Stars is a remarkable story for several reasons. For one, Julia Power is a fascinating character. She doesn’t do anything other than act with compassion, but you finish the novel thinking her the wisest of women. For another, the story has a timeless quality to it because the social issues Julia sees occurring within her own little ward occur across time. Lastly, it reinforces today’s messaging about mask wearing, hand washing, and social distancing as the only acceptable ways to maintain your health while the current influenza virus rages around the globe.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
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LibraryThing member MM_Jones
Interesting story of a nurse in a public hospital in Ireland during the 1918 flu pandemic. Rather too short to be a well developed book, it nonetheless provided insight to the times, to the location and to the medical risks of poverty and maternity. I thought the author's developing such a
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impetuous love interest was too modern, out of place for Catholic Dublin of the time. Show Less
LibraryThing member maryreinert
Set in Dublin after WWI and during the pandemic of 1918, this is the story of a young nurse in a maternity ward. The women in her unit are all suffering from the flu so are isolated from the regular maternity ward. Julia is young, short-handed, over-worked. The women who come into the ward are all
At times I felt the book was an expose of all the terrible things that could happen to women giving birth during the time especially in a Catholic dominated atmosphere. One example: doctors performing cruel surgeries to enlarge the pelvises of women so they could give birth but not endanger the uterus so that more babies were possible. Often women were having child after child literally dying a slow death with each birth.
The book is graphic and presents almost every situation possible. It seemed to go from one emergency or terrible situation to the next as if the author wanted to include every possible horrendous thing that could happen. At the same time, I do believe this was probably pretty accurate. It was just as if, however, the setting sometimes overtook the characters.
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scared, sick, and over-whelmed. Soon a young volunteer from the poor house comes to help. Much of the story involves the building relationship between the two women.At times I felt the book was an expose of all the terrible things that could happen to women giving birth during the time especially in a Catholic dominated atmosphere. One example: doctors performing cruel surgeries to enlarge the pelvises of women so they could give birth but not endanger the uterus so that more babies were possible. Often women were having child after child literally dying a slow death with each birth.
The book is graphic and presents almost every situation possible. It seemed to go from one emergency or terrible situation to the next as if the author wanted to include every possible horrendous thing that could happen. At the same time, I do believe this was probably pretty accurate. It was just as if, however, the setting sometimes overtook the characters.
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LibraryThing member streamsong
89. The Pull of the Stars - Emma Donoghue - 2020 – library
It’s just after World War I. Julia Power is a young nurse working at a Catholic hospital in the midst of the Spanish flu epidemic gripping Dublin and much of the world.
Julia is given a small ward in a former supply closet to run entirely
Julia and Bridie are fighting overwhelming medical odds. Without much in the way of medicine except poultices to fight pneumonia and cold packs to fight fever, the death rate is horrible. The epidemic story is grueling.
But the shear humanity of the characters will grab you: the patients, the orphan Bridie, Julia and her brother who is a former soldier suffering from shell shock, and the woman doctor whose politics have landed her on the wrong side of the law but who is the only professional help Julia can rely on.
Love and family are to be found in unexpected places. Wonderful twist of an ending – both incredibly sad and infinitely hopeful.
It’s just after World War I. Julia Power is a young nurse working at a Catholic hospital in the midst of the Spanish flu epidemic gripping Dublin and much of the world.
Julia is given a small ward in a former supply closet to run entirely
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by itself. It consists of women with influenza who are also about to give birth – and their infants once the birth occurs. She begs for help and is given a volunteer - a young woman named Bridie who grew up in the nearby Catholic orphanage and is now being told she needs to work off her debt for the nuns raising her. Bridie doesn’t have any nursing experience, but she is a quick learner and a fiercely independent spirit. She and Julia instantly are on the same side.Julia and Bridie are fighting overwhelming medical odds. Without much in the way of medicine except poultices to fight pneumonia and cold packs to fight fever, the death rate is horrible. The epidemic story is grueling.
But the shear humanity of the characters will grab you: the patients, the orphan Bridie, Julia and her brother who is a former soldier suffering from shell shock, and the woman doctor whose politics have landed her on the wrong side of the law but who is the only professional help Julia can rely on.
Love and family are to be found in unexpected places. Wonderful twist of an ending – both incredibly sad and infinitely hopeful.
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LibraryThing member Romonko
Ms. Donoghue is one of my favourite writers. I loved Room and I really like her historical books. This one is historical, but very timely. Ms. Donoghue wrote this book to mark the 100 anniversary of the 1918 Spanish flu, but it came out during Covid, and its amazing how similar our issues are now,
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one hundred years later. What amazes me is that the world hasn't really learned anything in the hundred years since the 1918 pandemic. And that after it killed more people than deadly World War I did. This book is about a midwife and nurse by the name of Julia Power. She is working on the maternity fever ward (which isn't really a ward, but a small box room converted to a hospital room). The room barely has room for three beds. The timeline of the book is approximately three days, and in those three days Julia deals with life and death situations numerous times. Three babies are born to mothers who are suffering from influenza and four mothers rotate through the door. With the help of a cheerful, helpful young woman by the name of Bridie Sweeney, she manages to deliver three babies in appalling conditions. Ms. Donoghue spares no punches in this powerful story that she has written. We are there for all the life and death emergencies in this little room in a Dublin hospital. In describing the pandemic through one of her characters who is a female doctor at the hospital, Ms. Donoghue has this to say about the 1918 pandemic. "The human race settles on terms with every plague in the end. We somehow muddle along, sharing the earth with each new form of life," - Emma Donoghue - The Pull of Our Stars. And what is a virus but a form of life after all? It's a form of life that continues to try to reproduce itself which is no different from the human race. This is true of the Covid pandemic that we are now experiencing as well.This is a remarkable book that looks at the pandemic full on. Ms. Donoghue spares no punches in this book, and she does it all within a surprisingly few pages. Show Less
LibraryThing member brianinbuffalo
Unlike some readers who report being instantly pulled into this saga from the first pages, it took me about a third of this short book to become truly engaged. But when it happened, I was genuinely "hooked" by Donoghue's masterful storytelling. Despite its brevity, "The Pull of the Stars"
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skillfully develops its main characters and sheds light on a global tragedy that parallels some of the terrifying realities we've been facing in the Covid-19 era. The author's afterword notes that the book was written prior to the current pandemic and was fast-tracked for release by Donoghue's editing and publishing team. The novel might be classified as historical fiction, but it offers riveting relatability to our current crisis. Show Less
LibraryThing member tamidale
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
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.
Much like Room, this story is set in one confining location, but here we have different characters coming in at various
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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.
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LibraryThing member LibraryCin
3.5 stars
This is set in Ireland in 1918, during the influenza pandemic. Julia is a nurse in a maternity ward, so we follow her at work for a few days with the flu being a constant threat. Bridie is an orphan (an adult now) who comes to volunteer in the hospital, so Julie and Bridie get to know each
I listened to the audio and thought there was a bit too much detail in the birthing of babies than I like to read/hear about. Ugh! The story was good, but I was a bit disappointed in that the influenza seemed more of a background than the main part of the story, which was the women having babies. There was an author’s note at the end, and I was interested to learn that the woman doctor was the one real person as a character in the book.
This is set in Ireland in 1918, during the influenza pandemic. Julia is a nurse in a maternity ward, so we follow her at work for a few days with the flu being a constant threat. Bridie is an orphan (an adult now) who comes to volunteer in the hospital, so Julie and Bridie get to know each
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other while helping the women in the ward. I listened to the audio and thought there was a bit too much detail in the birthing of babies than I like to read/hear about. Ugh! The story was good, but I was a bit disappointed in that the influenza seemed more of a background than the main part of the story, which was the women having babies. There was an author’s note at the end, and I was interested to learn that the woman doctor was the one real person as a character in the book.
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LibraryThing member stephkaye
Amazing. A rollercoaster ride of births and deaths, love and loss.
LibraryThing member janismack
Three days in a maternity ward during the 1918 Pandemic. Nurse Power is the day nurse in a hospital in Dublin Ireland during the 1918-1919 influenza. Difficult to read, these poor women giving birth while sick with the flu.
LibraryThing member icolford
Emma Donoghue’s startlingly prescient novel, The Pull of the Stars, is set in a Dublin maternity ward during the 1918 influenza pandemic. Specifically, the action takes place over three days beginning on October 31, the day before the novel’s main character, Nurse Julia Power, will turn thirty.
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Julia’s hospital—ravaged by the effects of the war as well as the worsening pandemic—is impoverished, understaffed and in a perpetual state of crisis (her “ward” is actually a converted supply room with space for three beds reserved for women sick with the flu who are about to give birth). As the novel begins, Julia arrives for her shift to discover that one of her patients has died in the night, and, as the day progresses, Donoghue chillingly evokes the myriad and horrific challenges facing health professionals at a time when a deadly illness of mysterious origin is spreading unchecked through the population via mechanisms that defy understanding. The novel’s dramatic urgency derives from the fact that the virulent respiratory illness makes pregnancy and childbirth even more dangerous than it normally is. Julia’s responsibilities to her patients—to ease their distress and see them safely through a period of physical dependency where any number of things can go wrong—often prove impossible to uphold. Over the course of the three days we see her grapple with as many deaths as births—only rarely do the fortunes of her patients match her hopes for them. As we’ve seen previously in Emma Donoghue’s historical fictions, she does not shy away from depicting the squalid and gory details of her characters’ daily lives. In the Pull of the Stars, childbirth is rendered as a torturous rite of passage, fraught with risk for both mother and child. For Ireland’s typical young mother or working-poor female in 1918, there is little beauty or magic in being pregnant, and none of the romance and glowing promise we find in popular representations. It is, in fact, a dread condition for women who are frequently malnourished and physically depleted from caring for already large families and labouring like slaves from dawn to dusk. More often than anyone would like to admit, it is a death sentence. Julia’s concerns and activities are not limited to the hospital, and her emotional life deepens as the action moves forward. She lives in a flat with her brother Tom, who returned from the war shell-shocked and unable to speak. For Julia, Tom is a source of comfort, but also a source of worry and heartache. In the makeshift Maternity/Fever ward, Julia develops a close and surprising bond with a young volunteer worker, Bridie Sweeney. Nurse Julia does not regard herself as naïve—she is acutely aware that unwholesome living conditions are a prime contributor to the misery her patients endure. Experience has taught her that women’s subservience to men and their forced adherence to rigid religious doctrine exact a huge physical toll. But Bridie’s situation as a boarder at a nearby convent opens Julia's eyes to a whole new world of suffering of which she is ignorant. Julia Power understands that there are limits to her influence. She will never fix the rampant inequities to which she is witness. She knows that she is but a miniscule cog in a massive wheel. But she emerges from her experiences over these three days profoundly altered, newly energized to make a difference, to alleviate suffering, to defy the forces of oppression. Emma Donoghue’s novel is written on an intimate, human scale, but its message is large: that if we can find a way to set aside our differences and accept our shared humanity, it will see us through any crisis. Show Less
LibraryThing member pdebolt
Set in 1918 in Ireland as the Spanish flu converges with WWI, this timely novel covers three days in the life of Julia Power, a nurse in the hospital maternity/flu ward. Having had a mild case, she is immune and treating pregnant women with flu-like symptoms. She celebrates her 30th birthday on All
This is a timely novel well told by the talented Emma Donoghue. There is also the inclusion of an extraordinary true-life person, Dr. Kathleen Lynn, who was instrumental in the creation of a free clinic and a children's hospital. There are inspiring stories of real and fictional history during this historical period. We all owe so much to the health-care workers on the front lines now, as much was owed to them then.
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Saints day with the unexpected gift of a love interest. The similarities with the global covid pandemic are striking as many succumb to this ravaging disease. There are signs posted urging people not to gather in groups, to wear masks and to socially distance, which are all familiar refrains for us in 2020. Some of her patients die, as do some of the babies. Hospitals are overcrowded and the medical staff is worked to the brink of exhaustion. Julia lives with her brother, Tim, who returned from the war with a psychological impairment that renders him mute. This is a timely novel well told by the talented Emma Donoghue. There is also the inclusion of an extraordinary true-life person, Dr. Kathleen Lynn, who was instrumental in the creation of a free clinic and a children's hospital. There are inspiring stories of real and fictional history during this historical period. We all owe so much to the health-care workers on the front lines now, as much was owed to them then.
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LibraryThing member novelcommentary
Emma Donoghue's latest novel, The Pull of the Stars, is an amazing coincidence of timing. Written in 2018, the investigation of the pandemic in Dublin in 1818 was conceived long before the eventual publishing date. But now, coming out at the height of our current crisis, its reading becomes more
Their relationship becomes the central focus of the novel. Bridie, who has grown up in the catholic orphanage, gives the author a voice to detail the injustices of that system, while providing the reader with a character not soon forgotten. To nurse Powers, Bridie is "a precious bead winking in a dustbin."
These two also come to know a female doctor named Katherine Lynn, who was in fact a real life Sinn Féin leader who worked to gain Irish independence and promote social reform. Donoghue does an excellent job of combining an interesting retelling of the hardship of the time with the happenstance of what effect one person can have in your life.
Lines from the novel.
Our ground-floor dining rooms had been commandeered as flu wards, so now staff meals were dished up in a windowless square that smelled of furniture polish, porridge, anxiety.
Worn down to the bone. Mother of five by the age of twenty-four, an underfed daughter of underfed generations, white as paper, red-rimmed eyes, flat bosom, fallen arches, twig limbs with veins that were tangles of blue twine. Eileen Devine had walked along a cliff edge all her adult life, and this flu had only tipped her over.
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, women might take discreet measures to avoid this, but in Ireland, such things were not only illegal but unmentionable.
You know, I always say a nurse is like a spoonful of tea leaves. I couldn’t answer in case my words came out in a roar. A hint of a smile for the punch line: Her strength only shows when she’s in hot water.
I sensed the bone man just outside the door. He’d claimed one small life already before any of us had realised, and now he was hovering close by, doing his rattling dance, swinging his smirking skull like a turnip in his bony fingers.
beg your pardon, Doctor? That’s what influenza means, she said. Influenza delle stelle—the influence of the stars. Medieval Italians thought the illness proved that the heavens were governing their fates, that people were quite literally star-crossed.
She didn’t take offence; she looked back at me. Here’s the thing—they die anyway, from poverty rather than bullets. The way this godforsaken island’s misgoverned, it’s mass murder by degrees. If we continue to stand by, none of us will have clean hands.
Novenas? I repeated. As in nine days of prayer? Bridie nodded. People paid the convent to have them said for special intentions. That flabbergasted me, the notion of children praying on an industrial scale, children so hungry they’d eat glue.
Forced March. Pills supplied to soldiers, or anyone who needs to stay awake and sharp. Powdered kola nuts and cocaine.
The human race settles on terms with every plague in the end, the doctor told her. Or a stalemate, at the least. We somehow muddle along, sharing the earth with every form of life.
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fascinating. Masks were worn, people where advised to stay away from public places, and it affected people in different ways. Written in the first person of Julia Powers, we get glimpse of her life as a maternity ward nurse working with pregnant mothers who have the grippe, as it was called. During these three days leading up to her 30th birthday, she is assigned an assistant, Bridie Sweeney. "She was the pale, freckle-dusted type of redhead, light blue eyes, brows almost invisible. Something childlike about her translucent ears; the one on the left angled a little forward, as if eager to catch every word. Thin coat, broken-down shoes; on an ordinary day, Matron would never have let her in the door."Their relationship becomes the central focus of the novel. Bridie, who has grown up in the catholic orphanage, gives the author a voice to detail the injustices of that system, while providing the reader with a character not soon forgotten. To nurse Powers, Bridie is "a precious bead winking in a dustbin."
These two also come to know a female doctor named Katherine Lynn, who was in fact a real life Sinn Féin leader who worked to gain Irish independence and promote social reform. Donoghue does an excellent job of combining an interesting retelling of the hardship of the time with the happenstance of what effect one person can have in your life.
Lines from the novel.
Our ground-floor dining rooms had been commandeered as flu wards, so now staff meals were dished up in a windowless square that smelled of furniture polish, porridge, anxiety.
Worn down to the bone. Mother of five by the age of twenty-four, an underfed daughter of underfed generations, white as paper, red-rimmed eyes, flat bosom, fallen arches, twig limbs with veins that were tangles of blue twine. Eileen Devine had walked along a cliff edge all her adult life, and this flu had only tipped her over.
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, women might take discreet measures to avoid this, but in Ireland, such things were not only illegal but unmentionable.
You know, I always say a nurse is like a spoonful of tea leaves. I couldn’t answer in case my words came out in a roar. A hint of a smile for the punch line: Her strength only shows when she’s in hot water.
I sensed the bone man just outside the door. He’d claimed one small life already before any of us had realised, and now he was hovering close by, doing his rattling dance, swinging his smirking skull like a turnip in his bony fingers.
beg your pardon, Doctor? That’s what influenza means, she said. Influenza delle stelle—the influence of the stars. Medieval Italians thought the illness proved that the heavens were governing their fates, that people were quite literally star-crossed.
She didn’t take offence; she looked back at me. Here’s the thing—they die anyway, from poverty rather than bullets. The way this godforsaken island’s misgoverned, it’s mass murder by degrees. If we continue to stand by, none of us will have clean hands.
Novenas? I repeated. As in nine days of prayer? Bridie nodded. People paid the convent to have them said for special intentions. That flabbergasted me, the notion of children praying on an industrial scale, children so hungry they’d eat glue.
Forced March. Pills supplied to soldiers, or anyone who needs to stay awake and sharp. Powdered kola nuts and cocaine.
The human race settles on terms with every plague in the end, the doctor told her. Or a stalemate, at the least. We somehow muddle along, sharing the earth with every form of life.
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Awards
RUSA CODES Reading List (Shortlist — Historical Fiction — 2021)
Scotiabank Giller Prize (Longlist — 2020)
Irish Book Award (Nominee — Novel — 2020)
BookTube Prize (Quarterfinalist — Fiction — 2021)
NPR: Books We Love (2020)
Kirkus Reviews Best Book of the Year (Historical Fiction — 2020)
Globe and Mail Top 100 Book (Fiction — 2020)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2020)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2020)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2020-07-21
Physical description
9.55 inches
ISBN
0316499013 / 9780316499019