The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue – 288 pages

ARC courtesy Little, Brown and Co. for an honest review

Book Blurb:

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, 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.

My Review: 3.5 stars

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The Pull of the Stars makes this the fifth book by this author that I’ve read. I’m not sure if reading this during a pandemic kept me at a distance from the story or not. The overwhelming sense of death, sickness and dread did nothing to help me escape, which is one of my favorite reasons to read.

The main protagonist, Julia, was one to root for. She was likable, relatable and was stuck between a rock and a hard place in trying to care for these pregnant women. Supplies were limited at best and one person cannot work 24/7, especially in these conditions. Although they are dealing with the Spanish Flu, the book takes place in Ireland, which shows the breadth of disease.

I wish I learned more about Doctor Kathleen Lynn and that she played a more prominent place in the story. Birdie was an amazing side kick and a perfect example of not judging a person’s skill and smarts based on her financial or living situation. She soaked up information like a sponge.

These three women were the nucleus of the story and I enjoyed getting to know them. The way in which the title relates the book worked quite well. 

Quotes I liked:

(From an ARC, and may be altered in finished copy.)

I seem to have stumbled onto love, like a pothole in the night.” 

“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.”

“Only for the duration, of course, for the foreseeable future, as the posters said. Though I was having trouble foreseeing any future. How would we ever get back to normal after the pandemic”