A review by holly_johnson
The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue

5.0

The pandemic of 1918 was horrific, but how many books have you read about it? Now, a hundred years later, it seems so relevant. Donoghue's eminently readable historical fiction novel follows nurse Julia Powers through three days of working tirelessly to keep her pregnant, infected patients alive with little more than cleanliness, aspirin and whiskey. She's had the flu, but the other medical professionals around her are dropping like flies, and she doesn't know when or if they will return. She must depend on a completely inexperienced volunteer to help her run the ward, and a doctor who has a warrant out for her arrest. The author's focus is on the flu, but life in 1918 Ireland intrudes, as it must. Those new to Irish history will come away with questions about the workhouses and Magdalene laundries, the risings, WWI and other historical background that contributed to the appalling death toll.