In the midst of our own modern day pandemic, Emma Donoghue delivers The Pull of the Stars, a historical fiction novel that follows Julia, a nurse holding down the fort in a maternity ward in Ireland during the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. Donoghue, who is best known for her award-winning novel Room, wrote The Pull of the Stars before the coronavirus ever made headlines, and her manuscript was rushed into production when the virus took over life as we know it. The result is a timely novel that nearly feels like a mirror, albeit one from earlier times, to our lives today.

Julia Power is devoted to her work as a nurse, tending to expectant mothers who have come down with the "new flu" and helping deliver their babies into a world torn apart by war and illness. Although the loss of life is significant, there is still joy in Julia's ward as life is ushered in and families grow and change. Add to the mix, Bridie Sweeney, a bright-eyed hospital volunteer in her 20s, and Dr. Kathleen Lynn, a knowledgeable, yet purported rebellious doctor, and the maternity ward at Julia's hospital is a bustling, yet often harrowing, place. Over the course of three days, these women will bring forth new life, while also helping others cross over as they pass away from the deadly flu that is overtaking the world.

The Pull of the Stars is incredibly appealing at this time due to our nascent experience with our own pandemic. This realistic portrayal of life during a pandemic 100 years ago is fascinating to read and compare to our lives today. Surprisingly, there are many similarities between illness-ravaged 1918 and 2020, showing that oftentimes, the more things change, the more they stay the same. Modern medicine is one thing that has changed, however, and squeamish readers may find themselves a bit queasy after reading some of Donoghue's passages about childbirth without the aid of today's advancements and technology. This should not detract readers though, as this is an absorbing and thoughtful read. My only complaint is that a love interest storyline near the end of the book felt rushed and quite out of place, distracting me from the compelling tale at hand.

The Pull of the Stars reminded me greatly of the Call the Midwife memoirs and BBC TV series, and will be enjoyed by any lovers of those titles. It is also an amazing read for anyone interested in pandemics, or those who enjoy historical fiction in general.

Thank you to NetGalley & Little Brown and Company for an ARC of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

This novel of historical fiction places the reader squarely in an obstetrics ward during the pandemic of 1918. The book is full of details and descriptions that capture the intensity of the setting and time period. Julia is a hard-working and caring nurse whose work is harrowing and endless. Although the novel takes place over a mere three days, that time period is full of trials, discoveries, illness and death. Yet at the same time, there is a lot of love, hope and humanity conveyed throughout. Donoghue does a wonderful job of capturing the setting and the emotions with her language. I found it a very compelling and moving story.

I always enjoy reading Emma Donoghue and I was excited to see she had a new book coming. The setting, the 1918 flu pandemic, felt especially relevant in our current pandemic. It was interesting to compare thoughts, responses, and reactions from over 100 years ago to the present day.
Donoghue's writing really brings her characters to life, and I felt like I was right alongside Julia in the maternity ward. Her relationship development with Bridie was unexpected but honest and beautiful. I will definitely be recommending The Pull of the Stars.

The Pull of the Stars was a disappointment to me in many ways. The story began with an engaging action sequence and quickly drew me into the lives and struggles of the main character as well as assorted characters. It was interesting to examine the parallels between the influenza pandemic in Ireland at the turn of the 20th Century and the Covid-19 pandemic. Emma Donoghue created a world in which poor women suffered privation, disease, and often abuse. The main protagonist in the story, a nurse, was a strong, capable character who did not seem to manifest the need for a love interest to "complete" her existence. It was very disappointing when the last portion of the book was mostly devoted to an unnecessary and difficult love interest. This was a great story with a terrible ending. I will not be recommending this one.

I did not expect this book to be so dark and I almost abandoned it. I’m glad a friend told me it was worth reading. So I pushed through and it was well worth the effort. Ms. Donoghue’s descriptions of the birth process and the stuggles of dealing with that and the devastation of the Spanish flu were, at times. grisly. It was hard to read especially during this time of another pandemic.
But she also has written great descriptions of memorable characters and tells a heartbreaking and at the same time a heartwarming story, well worth the time to read it.

What a raw, compelling, and heartbreaking novel. I wasn’t sure if now would be the best time to read about the Flu pandemic of 1918 but this book is about so much more. Julie Power has a nurse in a overrun and low-staffed Dublin hospital and over 3 days every range of human emotion is experienced. I flew threw this book and really enjoyed it, though it definitely was a tough and emotional read. I did have a hard time with the lack of quotation marks, along with the rough ARC formatting, but for the most part I compulsively read this story. This is a story I’ll think about for a long time!

Stare lovingly at its spine, or call the shrink for meds?

I want to hug this book, and I want to buy a copy so I can stare at its spine and go all ga-ga. I also want to high-tail it to the shrink’s office and demand meds because the book depressed me so much. Let me explain.

When the book ended, there was this expansive, almost giddy, feeling I get whenever I finish reading a masterpiece. It was thrilling, intense, epic, vivid, and rich, and it had complex, amazing characters. I could go on and on with the positive adjectives. The book grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. I know it’s a cliché, but I will say I really was under its spell. I even cried, which I’ve done maybe only 5 or 6 times in my lifetime when reading. (I know, just call me Stoic Stella.)

On the other hand, while reading this book I often stopped in my tracks, shocked that anyone could write anything this horrific. Not only was there death, but there also was tremendous suffering, and worst of all, gory details of difficult childbirths, including vivid medical procedures. (I kept wondering why the author would choose to paint such a depressing picture. What is the purpose? Did she really want to freak out the reader so much?) I squirmed, I grimaced; sometimes my stomach hurt. I kept asking myself why I was subjecting myself to such intense drear and gloom. This was over the top. It seriously might be the most depressing book I’ve ever read. Surely I could find something lighter, especially in these times.

I think it’s the “I don’t remember the pain anymore; all I’m left with are good memories” syndrome. Sort of like if I broke my ankle while on a phenomenal trip of a lifetime. Once my ankle healed, I’d only remember all the incredible experiences. The pain would have faded and what would be left in my head were all the good feelings. Well, that’s what happened here.

The story takes place in Dublin, mostly in a very small hospital room with three patients, a nurse (the main character), and a helper. There’s an interesting doctor who pops in and out. You feel like you’re in the room with them. You desperately want to get out, but you also desperately want to stay there and find out what happens.

I knew going into this book that it was about the 1918 worldwide influenza. Some reviewers said it felt strangely cathartic to read about something so monumental that we can relate to today. It was relatable, and it made me feel a little more hopeful knowing that we have better hospitals and medical technology than what existed in 1918. Yet, despite all our advancements, a virus is still a killer, a century later. The book talked about missing out on Halloween; that’s happening to us, too—no trick-or-treaters this year. Kids miss out on that one. Ha, as if that is our only problem.

Donoghue wrote the book in 2018, exactly 100 years after the pandemic. This was her plan. However, it was not her plan that it be published right when a pandemic of our own was starting. The book got published in March 2020, the same month that the COVID pandemic hit America. Very strange.

Of course I didn’t think the book would just be about the importance of wearing masks and staying away from each other. Secretly, though, I did hope I’d get some practical advice—like how to get through a pandemic without dying, for instance. (No, I didn’t think it would be a self-help book or Chicken Soup for Pandemic-ites, god no; but still, I didn’t expect a complete horror show.) I simply wanted a peek at how people probably felt back then, and how the world looked. Anthropology, sociology, history—all those nice academic subjects that often give me some distance. I didn’t expect to be so involved and tortured.

True, it’s fiction, but I knew that Donoghue did her research so I could expect that she’d be portraying a picture of what it was like in those years. “Oh, I can relate to that!” I’d think. But oh no, the book had different plans. It was more like this: I was thrown into a tiny, claustrophobic ICU; all the patients had COVID and were on ventilators, fighting for their lives; every patient was a female, 8 or 9 months pregnant; there weren’t nearly enough doctors or supplies; I talked to some of the patients and liked them; a really kind, smart, and overworked nurse whispered in my ear, telling me exactly was going on medically, in vivid detail, as people died and were born. Get the picture? Brutal. I’m surprised that no one else mentioned just how horrifying this read was. Yet I can say with a straight face that it was all worth it.

A minor warning: If you like quotation marks, you’re out of luck—there aren’t any. To compound the issue, sometimes characters would talk mid-paragraph, but this might be a funky ARC formatting issue. And with no quotation marks, the fact that dialogue wasn’t given its own line sometimes was a hold-up. I got used to it and didn’t mind.

A major warning: Beware if you can’t hack an overdose of human suffering or reading about medical procedures in minute detail. And if you ever plan on getting pregnant, this will be a hard read.

BUT, and this is a big BUT, there is also a lot of hope and love in this book. It reeks of compassion and soul. The characters are extremely likeable; you won’t mind hanging out with them, even in the tight, brutal space where they work. The story is so captivating, so well done, so immersive. Three main characters, all women, are all strong and resilient, brave and caring, charismatic.

This was written by the same author who wrote Room, a favorite of mine. Now I want to—no, I must—check out Donoghue’s other books.

Believe it or not, this book is one of my favorites of this year! I want to bring out my pogo stick, but my shrink tells me I shouldn’t, that I need to face the facts and realize I need to deal with my repressed depression, not gallivant around, all bouncy and smiley. I tell her she’s nuts. Now that the pain is over (like with my imagined healed ankle), all I feel is utter happiness about this amazing, amazing book. I can’t wait to admire its spine on my shelf, I just can’t wait.

Thanks to NetGalley for the advance copy.

A step back to the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 in Dublin, as a maternity ward nurse struggles to help her patients through labor while weakened from the flu.

I know many of us are reading pandemic books, as a way to cope with our current circumstance. Donoghue is most notable for her novel, Room, so I was excited to see how she told the story of the 1918 pandemic, through the eyes of a nurse.

Donoghue notes, in the end, that she had submitted her draft prior to COVID, so some of those eerie similarities feel more weighted knowing that they were not influenced by this situation.

Set in Ireland, Nurse Julia powers works at an understaffed hospital, in a ward dedicated to expectant mothers. Powers is constantly confronted with, truly emergency situations as many of the women battle the deadly flu with very few tools, in her arsenal, to help in recovery.

When Bridie Sweeney volunteers to help, Julia sets aside the fact that she not a trained nurse, and allows her to shadow her work and assist in procedures. Raised in a home for orphans, Bridie is naïve to the experience of mothers (or mothering) and becomes Julia’s most faithful companion as they battle these cases. It’s a beautiful friendship that blossoms on these pages.

If you have ever wanted a guide to midwifery in these days, you will be astounded at how well Donoghue writes on these complicated procedures.

It also showcases the same issues we are struggling with today which begs us to realize just how little we have learned. Just like today, they are short-staffed, struggling with supplies, having difficulties convincing others to take the necessary steps to reduce transmission, have distrust in their government, and how this disease impacts the lower income communities, at a disproportionate rate.

I found this book to be very hard to put down!

very moving story of a 2 days during a pandemic as seen through a nurses eyes. She struggles to keep her maternity patients alive to deliver healthy babies while battling the flu. She finds unexpected love and her life changes forever.

In 1918, Ireland is experiencing political unrest, as well as a deadly influenza pandemic ravaging the county. Healthcare is not as sophisticated as it is today, but a health care worker understood the basics of infectious diseases. As the pandemic rages on around her, Nurse Power, a midwife, continues to care for women in labor. The mothers are not only delivering babies, but they also have a deadly influenza. Nurse Power only has the help of a runner Birdie, a young untrained woman, and Dr. Lynn, who is wanted by police for her political activities.

Told from Nuse Power’s point of view as she cares for each mother and baby on her unit, information about the mothers unfolds as the story progresses. The medical procedures were fascinating and well researched. The relationship between the characters was alluring.

This story is fictitious but based on real-life events. As a health care worker, I was especially intrigued by the description of the medical procedures and treatments. It was amazing to read how medical care was delivered in 1918.

This is a beautiful book. I highly suggest people pick this up.

Due to the time we are in now this was a read that Took me longer to read than it normally would. I enjoyed it. This author is very talented

4.5*
This is the perfect book for these unsettled times. Donoghue wrote The Pull of the Stars, a novel about the 1918 flu pandemic, even before the 2020 coronavirus hit. It is the story of a young Irish nurse who is responsible for the lives of the pregnant woman who are also suffering from the flu during a time when treatment was minimal. Julia is on her own in trying to help the infected women as they face a dangerous, life-threatening illness while trying to deliver their babies.

Some of the women experience severe flu symptoms and there are birthing complications. Julia is in over her head, but she tries her very best to save both mothers and newborns. One female doctor who is included in this historical novel is based upon a real physician who was passionate about Irish rights along with the rights of women and workers.

As nurse Julia works hard to make the women comfortable, a young girl shows up as a volunteer. She is a godsend, a reliable assistant. The two work well together in trying to save the lives of their charges. But, stuck in a distant storage area with her few patients, Julia must use her own expertise when complications arise.

A story of true courage, love, dedication, and a commitment to her patients. Like the heroic medical personnel who courageously serve covid patients today, Julia tries to soothe and minister to the women who are suffering a debilitating illness while also facing the difficulties of childbirth.

There is so much to savor in this wonderful book. Donoghue’s story is not only timely but sensitive and powerful. This is a must read, a book that informs and enlightens.

Julia is a nurse working on the maternity ward in Dublin after the end of WWI and dealing with the Spanish Flu epidemic. She has already survived the flu so she is working with expectant mothers battling the flu. With the help of a caring doctor and a young helper, Julia deals with life and death over three days. The story is incredibly timely given the corona virus even though it was written before the pandemic. The novel moves at a good pace and Julia is a believable character. The only drawback is the ending of the novel which felt too abrupt and the the brief relationship between Julia and Bridie which seemed out of place.

Thank you Little Brown and Netgalley for the e-arc.

Wow, this book was intense...and quite timely. Set in Ireland during the flu pandemic in the Early 1900s, we met nurse Julia Powers. She was a nurse in a maternity ward at a hospital and was caring for pregnant patients with the flu. Between the confusion the government caused with posters and ‘instructions’ on how to stay healthy, and what was actually going on inside the hospital, I was both hooked and horrified - and I couldn’t stop reading.

I will warn that this book is very graphic and if you are pregnant, a new mom, have experienced a traumatic childbirth experience, or lost a baby/child, or if you are squeamish with medical descriptions, you might want to proceed with caution.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley.

The setting for this novel is a special area set aside in an Irish hospital for maternity patients suffering from the Spanish Flu in 1918. The main character is a hardworking nurse who has recovered from the illness and is, therefore, immune. The pandemic has hit Dublin hard and the hospital is faced with many challenges. Much of the staff is out sick and critical supplies are running low.

This story resonates closely with the current COVID-19 pandemic. While there have been many advances in medicine since 1918, the difficulties and fears imposed by a highly-contagious disease are much the same.

Even though we're dredging through our own pandemic, I found this novel, which covers three days at the hospital during the 1918 pandemic, mainly because our main character, Julia, the nurse who works on the maternity floor, and her young runner that surfaces when the novel begins, a woman who was raised in the orphanage, and is basically indebted to them for her education, so she is unable to keep any of the money she earns, and the two quickly become close friends. I would have liked to have seen more of the nurse and her brother, whom she lives with and has recently returned from the war, mute, but the majority of the novel takes place at the hospital where we watch women die giving birth, sometimes to live babies, sometimes not, many weakened by the flu. When the forceps come out, I quivered--those scenes were so brutal. The last third of the novel is the most interesting, and to some degree, the way it ends ( I won't give away spoilers) seems like it could have been a part of this novel, because I am still wondering how all this (not saying what) worked out for Julia. Engaging novel.

What a page turner. The Pull of the Stars is a fictional account “pinned together with facts” of three days in the life of Julia Power, an Irish nurse working in a maternity ward in Dublin. It’s 1918 and soldiers have returned from the front carrying emotional and physical scars picked up in the trenches along with an influenza pandemic. The hospitals are filled with the sick and the dying. There are so few healthy staff left that Julia must work her twelve hour night shift in the fever/maternity ward alone with only a teenaged helper from the local orphanage to assist her. Along with the occasional help from a doctor hunted by police, Julia and Bridie try to keep these fever ravaged, expectant mothers alive. The scenes in this ward are graphic, vivid and compelling. Julia must draw on all her resources and skills to keep these women from dying during delivery and postpartum while trying to control their raging fevers.The only medication to ease their fevers and pain being doses of whiskey and a lot of carbolic acid.

The parallels between the pandemic in 1918 and our current Covid-19 pandemic are easy to find but not the sole focus of this novel. Instead, Donoghue points her gaze at Irish society of the time, a society where the Catholic church runs the orphanages forcing their young charges to work as indentured servants/slaves to pay off their debt to the nuns and the Catholic church. A society where birth control is discouraged leaving women malnourished and exhausted yet continuing to bear children for their husbands, “She doesn’t love him unless she gives him twelve.” A society that does not value the contributions made by these long-suffering women.

This is a quick and stunning read. The author holds nothing back in the birthing scenes so be warned if that is a trigger for you. The horror and sadness mix with glimpses of hope in these women and make this a memorable, bittersweet read.

ARC received with thanks from publisher via NetGalley for review.

What a remarkable, timely story Emma Donoghue created. Immediately upon Nurse Julia Power arriving at hospital the novel exploded, twining together the stories of women at their most vulnerable and strongest moments.

The year is 1918 and the location is Ireland during the time of the Spanish flu. It is also a time when men are returning to Ireland wounded either physically or mentally from having served in the war.

Julia Powers is a thirty-year-old nurse who works in the hospital in the center of Dublin. When not working she lives with her brother who has returned from the war with mental issues, and as a result, he will not speak. There is also currently a rebellion in the city and one of the doctors who serves at the hospital is hiding there from the police because it is rumored that she is one of the rebels.

The book follows Julia over a three day period as she goes about her duties in the small room that serves as an addition to the maternity/fever ward of the hospital. This section is for the pregnant women who are also ill with influenza. When the book begins, she arrives at work, finding that the ward is short staffed due to illness and she is put in charge of her small section of the ward. As nurse in charge she faces many challenges while caring for the pregnant women, assisting in the delivery of their babies and seeing to the care of the newborn babies.

Julia gets some much needed assistance when a young volunteer named Bridie Sweeney is assigned to be her helper. During the course of the three days, their lives become unexpectedly intertwined as they contend with several emergencies and endeavor to do the best they can for the women in their care.

Donoghue is very forthright as she spares no details in relating the women’s health and social circumstances. The medical issues surrounding the delivery of their babies are also very explicitly narrated. Additionally, the author offers insights into many interesting and unusual medical treatments and procedures that were being used during 1918.

Most of the plot takes place in the lying in ward where Julia works. It is a dark and dank room. However, the compassion and dedication of Julia and her volunteer Bridie, as they do their best under less than ideal conditions, to serve the patients in their care, brings a spark of light to the darkness.

Through the patient’s stories, Donoghue also offers commentary on the social issues that existed at that time in Ireland. The flu epidemic following the war and a rebellion brought about overflowing hospitals, shortages of supplies, and extreme conditions of poverty.


The book has been carefully researched and is a nice blend of fact and fiction. It is a character driven book that is highly relevant to today’s world. Donoghue started writing the book to mark the hundredth anniversary of the Spanish Flu Pandemic of 1918 without knowing that it would be published during the present Covid 19 epidemic.

The influence that the stars have on life is mentioned many times throughout the book. “As if, when it’s your time, your star gives you a yank.” This quote summarizes the book and also serves to explain the title of a novel that successfully immerses the reader in many emotional and thought provoking life and death situations.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the egalley of this book from which this review is written.