The Pull of the Stars: A Novel Kindle Edition

This was an excellent book. The main character, Julia, was liable and engaging. Her newly met companion, Bridie even more so. There was such a wealth of emotion and so much that happened that by the end I couldn’t believe it had all happened in less than a week. If you’re on the fence, give this book a go

Pregnant women quarantined in a Dublin hospital during the Influenza Pandemic of 1918.I’m always alert to the work of the the lovely and talented Emma Donoghue, especially since I fell in love with her disturbingly good, ROOM.THE PULL OF THE STARS (New York: Little Brown; July 2020), seemed to be vying for my attention, whispering, “Read me, read me,” when I came across this historical fiction set in 1918 Dublin. For three days, we are midwives in a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu. There’s work, and risk and a claustrophobic sense of the world browning at the edges; and yes, it has so many parallels with today’s pandemic.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. 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.THE PULL OF THE STARS is Donoghue’s thirteenth novel (and seventeenth book of fiction), she is also a playwright. As a former R.N. myself, I was amazed and awed at the obvious medical research Donoghue must have done to pull off such an effortless and sustaining read, teaching me many things about> historical medicine and midwifery. The last bit had an unexpected turn that I didn’t see coming at all, and almost felt oddly tacked-on, without set-up, but others may feel differently. THE PULL OF THE STARS does end on a slightly devastating but equally hopeful note.THE PULL OF THE STARS reminded me of the PBS/BBC period drama CALL THE MIDWIFE, but also the work of Christina Baker Kline, particularly her new historical fiction, THE EXILES. But in also of Donoghue’s earlier work, THE WONDER, featuring Catholicism and a similar time period and setting. In terms of historical medical novels, you might also like the work of Sara Donati.L.Lindsay|Always with a Book

I adored this book. I will never forget it. The writing is warm and wonderful. 'The Pull of the Stars' by Emma Donoghue takes place in 1918 in a maternity ward at a time when the Great Flu has taken over. Nurse Julia is given little help to keep her patients alive. The patients are frightened and afraid. Julia, however, has no choice but to keep smiling and to keep her patients calm. With a little love and care, Julia finds a way to find the strength that she desperately needs. - J. Hoff

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 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.

I love a Dublin novel; but, this one has difficulty leaving the station. A slow read. I would never blame the authoress, this is simply a different style of narrative.

Highly recommend

When you’re up till 3 am reading a book, that should tell you how good it is. Set in Ireland, deep into WWII, the Spanish flu, and the torn Irish population between the English and Irish rebels, our main character tried to save the lives of the pregnant women with the flu and their babies. Non-stop, with a serious amount of emotion, extraordinary detail about birthing at this time—when it was still so dangerous even without the flu, and heart.

I loved the book! I was skeptical about it at first, but it turned out to be a good read.

I found it hard to put this book down. The characters were so compelling, interesting in every way. The story was beautiful. There was so much excellent information about childbirth that was well presented. I did find it a bit disconcerting that the author didn't use quotation marks to show the conversations - I sometimes found that I wasn't sure if a character was thinking or speaking out loud, but it did not take away from the story. Very well written.

I have read a few Emma Donoghue books previously and generally I have really enjoyed them. There were a couple that fell a bit short for me (am looking at you ‘Frog Music’ and ‘The Sealed Letter’) but I like Donoghue’s style, content and the way she writes, so I was pretty excited to start ‘The Pull of the Stars’.This book is set in the midst of the 1918 flu epidemic in Dublin. As people are killing each other on the battlefields of the First World War, we follow Nurse Julie Power over 3 days as she works heroically to save the lives of the mothers and babies in a small isolation room for pregnant women battling the flu. With the help of an inexperienced but enthusiastic volunteer, Bridie, and Dr Katherine Lynn, a real-life character and Irish nationalist whose involvement with Sinn Fein made her a target for the police, we learn about the aversion to contraception, the social pressure to churn out babies (upwards of ten was the norm), sexual abuses in religious institutions, Magdalene laundries, a maternal mortality rate of 15%, and the pandemic. We see mothers trying and failing to give birth to their twelfth child because their bodies can't take any more, young victims of sexual abuse terrified as they are forced to give birth to the babies of the male relatives who raped them, the "fallen women" of Magdalene laundries forced to give up their babies and abuse victims who are afraid to get better and leave the hospital. This truly was a terrible time and place to be a woman and pregnant. We learn a little bit about Nurse Power outside of work and her relationship with her mute brother who has returned from war.I was hooked from the start.I was immediately absorbed into Nurse Power’s world and, as dismissal and shocking as it was, I never wanted to leave. The writing flowed well and the characters were brilliant and well thought out. The whole book seemed very well researched to me and I liked that it involved real characters from the time. I really felt like I was in the room with the characters. This book just drew me in completely. It’s not a fast paced story but I was desperate to know what the outcome would be for them and the patients under their care. The story is heartbreaking but I found the narrative compelling and original.I was sad that I read it so fast (the endless struggle in an amazing book to drip feed yourself but at the same time being too absorbed to slow down) and I wish I could forget it all and enjoy it all again anew.

Das Buch war einfach super!

Me ha encantado desde el principio hasta el final. Me lo he leído en dos sentadas, no podía dejarlo. Lo recomiendo absolutamente.