It's 1918 and Dublin is feeling the effects of the Great Flu and the last days of World War I like the rest of the world. Julia Powers is a nurse on the small ward made for those women about to give birth who also have the flu. Julia lives quietly with her brother who came back from the war physically intact but wounded mentally and who is now mute. The ward is tiny, a former space repurposed for the women who need it. The hospital is understaffed and in the throes of the pandemic.

The novel looks at three days in Julia's life. In that time, babies are born, some healthy, some not. Some mothers recover from the flu and go home while others leave their newborns orphaned. Two women enter Julia's life. One is a volunteer named Bridie who comes to help. She had been orphaned as a child and grew up in the care of nuns, a care that was akin to slavery. She and Julia feel an instant connection and Bridie quickly picks up the ways to help the suffering women. The other woman is Doctor Lynn. The hospital needs her expertise but the police are looking for her as she had sided with the rebels in the recent troubles.

Emma Donoghue is best known for her novel Room which was a major success but she has written quite a few novels. Her interests include women's relationships and historical fiction but some of her novels also have a bit of supernatural influence. In this novel, she explores how women made the best of things during the War, serving in ways different from the men who went to fight but ways that were just as important. I thought the ending was a bit abrupt but overall enjoyed the novel, which Donoghue turned in to her publisher a month before the start of our own Covid pandemic. This book is recommended for historical fiction and women's fiction readers.

Thank you to @netgalley and @littlebrown for a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

It took me a bit to get through this story, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t invested to each character. I needed to know, who survived, who died, and I loved that it was a female driven story of survival. This book was both heartwarming and heartbreaking all at the same time. I recommend.

4 stars

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Beautifully written and interesting storyline especially considering it came out during the height of the COVID pandemic. I found that the characters could have been developed a little bit more.. I wanted more from them. Still, beautifully written.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley for my honest review. The opinions expressed in this review are entirely my own.

I chose this as a selection for my library book club. It was well-liked by the book club members. I also enjoyed it, especially for historical fiction. One thing towards the end went so quickly it felt unrealistic and rushed and left me wanting to know what became of the main character.

Brought to you by OBS reviewer Andra

The Pull of the Stars is another engaging book by Emma Donoghue. While I am fairly new to the historical fiction genre I am really beginning to enjoy it. This might have been a strange book to read at this time (currently amidst the COVID-19 pandemic) but given The Pull of the Stars point of view – I found it timely as well as gripping and entertaining. Highlighting the true heroic nature of the work that nurses do! Not surprising – this book has been nominated for numerous awards ☺. I have read other titles by Ms. Donoghue (Room and Frog Music) and I must say – this is the story and its storytelling I have liked the best.

The story revolves around Nurse Julie Power and her role in the sequestered portion of the maternity ward for those patients with the plague over a three-day period. The room has three beds available for maternity patients. As the three days’ progress, the beds are filled with numerous pregnant women. Births happen… deaths happen. The story is well paced while in the hospital and we are also allowed to glimpse into Nurse Power’s home life as well (getting to know a bit about her brother and his plight following his time in the war). I can’t imagine how difficult life was in the early 1900’s! Each maternity patient’s story is poignant and kept me engaged throughout.

We get a glimpse of what life was like in the middle of a pandemic and the end of a war in the early 1900’s. From the current pandemic – I have gleaned that some things have just not changed. Though I am quite glad I had my children outside of a pandemic.

The story provided just the right amount of depth for the characters. I enjoyed getting to know Bridie Sweeney, the young volunteer helper. What a hard life it must have been for those born and sent to an orphanage. Bridie is a quick learner and provides Julie with the help that she desperately needs to assist in the birth of the babies. We also get to know Dr. Kathleen Lynn – a doctor who is a bit of a rebel rouser – she is wanted by the police for her activities during various protests. Another character, who I found intriguing, was Groyne – whom Julie disliked quite a bit.

This story is heartbreaking. As with our current situation, the book points out the incredible strain on the workers tasked with caring for the sick. It is a shame we have to live through this again and some of the current strain on the healthcare system could have been lessened or avoided. Here is hoping we learn for the future. If you are a fan of historical fiction, then I suggest picking up The Pull of the Stars and get your reading on – you will not be disappointed. A fine new novel by Emma Donoghue.

Perfect for fans of Call the Midwife, a nurse in 1918 Ireland spends the weekend running a maternity ward during the Spanish flu. A lot happens in the span of three days and there was no lack of plot, although it did feel forced at times how many things happened in such a small span of time. I did like the side characters as well as our main, But I feel like more time could’ve been given to developing the main relationship in the story (which I won’t spoil).

"Influenza" comes from influenza delle stelle meaning the influence of the stars. And that is just a snippet of what you'll learn from this obviously well researched historical fiction. For those of you thinking "not another pandemic book", this doesn't focus so much on the flu as it uses it as a plot device to get group of women into the same small maternity room. By doing so we get a cross section of society in the early 1900's with classes that normally wouldn't interact all involved in each other.

Well researched, beautifully written, with engaging characters. This was a hit with book club.

While this took me a bit to get into since the writing style is a bit different, once I got a little into it, I found it nearly impossible to put down. I thought the choice to focus on only two or three days in the life of the protagonist Julia was a very interesting choice, because it showed the intensity and political/social climate in a way that a longer timeline would dilute. While the style won't work for everyone, I enjoyed it and would recommend.

As always, a powerful story by Emma Donoghue. Set in the pandemic flu during WW1, Donoghue hits all the right notes: the fear, the rapid deaths, the impending sense of doom to those who are exposed daily. While there are certain parallels to our current situation, the focus in more on the characters.

I’m judging the L.A. Times 2020 and 2021 fiction contest. It’d be generous to call what I’m doing upon my first cursory glance—reading. I also don’t take this task lightly. As a fellow writer and lover of words and books, I took this position—in hopes of being a good literary citizen. My heart aches for all the writers who have a debut at this time. What I can share now is the thing that held my attention and got me to read on even though it was among 296 other books I’m charged to read.

I’m such a fan of Emma Donoghue’s prose. Of course it’s hard to escape from our present bleak time to another parallel bleak time but if any one can take us there it’s Donoghue.
“A man’s explosive cough on the bench behind me. Then another. Hack, hack, a tree being axed with too small a blade. The mass of bodies leaned away.”

Just as I read this I got a text message from my sister that she tested positive for COVID, we’d all gone to dinner last night to celebrate all the January birthdays at an obnoxious establishment called Bucca di Beppo—a family style Italian chain that can accommodate our large family without everyone else in the place having their dinner ruined. It was the first time all of us sat at the same table. It’s also the kind of food everyone agrees on but suits nobody’s dietary restrictions. Anyhow… my sister felt so terrible… having taken all the proper precautions and yet being positive and now here we are in the balance of the unknown…

A heartbreaking novel about a Dublin nurse who serves in the neonatal department of a Catholic hospital during the flu epidemic of 1918.

I knew this was a book about a pandemic heading into it, but it was very well written. This was about the Spanish flu in 1918 rather than COVID-19. The story takes place over three days and follows Julia, who is a midwife working in the woman's fever unit for pregnant women. There are detailed descriptions of their illnesses, their delivery, and more. However, it is clear that Donoghue did extensive research on this time period and everything is very well done.

I wasn't sure at first if I was going to be able to get into the book as there is not a lot of action. It's more like a slice of life that took place, but Julia is such a likeable character. The women she surrounds herself with are all interesting as well. The author did an excellent job describing the time period, what life was like and how the hospital was dealing with it.

Overall, a nice historical fiction book about life during a pandemic in Ireland.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book was finished just before COVID 19, so the timeliness was very relevant. It was interesting to read about characters that were going through a pandemic, as well as a war. The book was very well researched, and while there was a lot of medical discussion, the author kept it interesting. The only aspect I didn’t care for was the love story that developed. I didn’t get that sort of chemistry between the characters as I read but was not all that surprised that the author added it. I saw their relationship more as a big sister/little sister or as Julia being more of a mother figure.

I received this book free of charge from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

While I received the ebook ARC, I ended up listening to this on audiobook. It was an interesting book to listen to, especially given that we're still in the midst of a pandemic and the book is set during the 1918 influenza pandemic.

I could have done without the romance during the last part of the book. It felt a little forced, like the author needed to throw it in.

Overall, a good read (listen).

I'll be honest: I didn't read this book; I listened to it. Why? Well because I like Donoghue's writing but despise the lack of quotation marks. And that is also why it has taken me so long to get around to it. I really didn't want to not enjoy a book I expected I would really like. Listening to it solved all that and gave me a beautiful Irish lilt to listen to. It helped smooth over the heart wrenching parts and made the lighter parts a bit lighter. This was needed in a book about a pandemic that so close mirrors the events of the past several months. And yes, I found myself commenting back to the characters frequently during the course of the story as I heard points that could easily have been stated now. "Let's not waste time on ruminations and regrets in the middle of a pandemic" continues to stand out for me. (quotations obviously my own.) The inclusion of real life Dr. Kathleen Lynn added to my interest in the story as I always like it when real history is woven into a fictional book. This is not a story to be missed. If you don't miss quotation marks, read it. If you do miss them, listen to it. Either way you won't be disappointed.

I think reading this book during a pandemic was the best and worst choice I ever made. The parallels between now and the Spanish Influenza was jarring especially as the story goes through the point of view of a maternity ward nurse. This book ended up being the kind I stayed awake and cried at 3am to.

I love Emma Donoghue, and this novel is perfect for right now. Set in a maternity flu ward in Dublin in 1918, it covers two days in the lives of a nurse and the women she tries to treat. It has some brutal depictions of birth, but a lot to say about we treat illness and women, then and now.

A pandemic read: not for the faint of heart. I was hesitant to read this one as the current pandemic is ongoing and my own experiences during the pandemic were too closely connected to this novel. This novel is so tragically real that it breaks my heart.
Setting: Ireland during the influenza pandemic of 1918. This whole novel takes place within three days. THREE DAYS! So much happens within in this window of time - so much pain and death.
Favorite Quote: "In Italy, they used to blame the the influence of the constellations for making them sick. That's where influenza comes from."
Characters: Nurse Power (love the irony of the name at times): she is basically in charge of the makeshift influenza maternity ward. This is where expecting mothers who have the flu are sent to delivery... and sometimes survive.
Doctor Kathleen Lynn: based on the real life Irish rebel doctor. I love the history that's infused in this character. She's controversial, but saves lives and has the best of intentions. She's strong and resilient and loves music.
Bridie Sweeney: the horrors this poor character has endured in her short life. She swirls together the worst of humanity's cruelness and spins it into kindness and brightness. She's spunky and full of life and willing to help.
What I love most: How all three of these influential and powerful characters learn from each other and connect. The three are drawn together in the worst of circumstances and their friendships are both inspiring and heart wrenching.
I love the title. I love the history. I love how tragically realistic this book is. I love the parallels to the current pandemic.
Highly recommend!

What a timely novel. Set in the time of influenza and war, The Pull of the Stars is an inside look into the state of the hospitals during a pandemic. Sound familiar?

Set over just 3 days, this novel feels like it should be set over weeks or months with all that Nurse Power has to deal with. And through it all, she shows absolute poise and grace. My hope is that there are nurses like Nurse Power out there right now, giving the care needed for those suffering from COVID-19. I know this is a time of distress and it is easy to become frustrated when overworked but it's nurses like Julia Power that keep us going in our most vulnerable time.

I enjoyed this book on audio, especially with the narrator's Irish accent. So, I would definitely recommend this on audio but I'm sure it would be an enjoyable book or ebook to read as well.