The Pull of the Stars
Publisher,Picador UK
Publication Date,
Format, Paperback
Weight, 420 g
No. of Pages,
The old world dying on its feet, a new one struggling to be born . . .
Dublin, 1918. In a country doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city centre, where expectant mothers who have come down with an unfamiliar 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 the course of 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 tells an unforgettable and deeply moving story of love and loss.
This book was so powerfully written that my only words when completing it were WOW, WOW, WOW! It is a gripping tale of just two or three days in the life of a nurse, her helper, and three pregnant women. Other minor characters add color to the story. It is not a happy book. There is nothing happy about the great flu pandemic. However, it is history and it hits your soul hard. I will recommend this book to those strong individuals who want to learn.
The timing on this one is perfect, and surprising when you think about how Emma Donoghue starting writing the story in 2018, and it is so relevant today. It's startling when you think about how history can repeat itself and leaves you to consider how we can learn from history. The one thing that might not change is the astonishing heroes in times of crisis. The ones of yesterday and we see today! It's stories like this that focus on the remarkable, selfless heroes that rise above all the ugly, put others first and risk it all to save others and don't lose their humanity along the way.