Author: Emma Donoghue
Publisher: Little Brown
Year: 2020
Happy Monday!
Did I read a third book about a pandemic since the start of the covid pandemic? Yes, yes I did. 🤷🏻♀️This historical fiction novel was my book club’s pick for this month. The Pull the Stars is set in Dublin, Ireland during the 1918 Spanish flu pandemic. The city is reeling from on-going WWI and the deadly pandemic. People are scared to go out and there’s all sorts of superstitious cures. Nurse Julia Power is assigned to a small ward for expectant mothers who have the flu. The book takes place over a few short days while Julia cares for several pregnant women sick with the flu. Nurse Julia is a compassionate caregiver trying to save lives during harsh circumstances. The hospital is so short staffed that only help Julia gets is Bridie, a young woman who grew up in an orphanage and has no medical training. But Bridie is cleaver and eager to learn. She also opens Julia’s eyes to the horrendous abuse and living conditions of unwed mothers and orphans suffer at the hands of those who are supposed to care for them. Julia must draw on all her strength and knowledge and break some norms to advocate for and fight to save the women and babies in her care.
Author Emma Donoghue clearly did her research about the great flu pandemic and early 20th century labor and delivery practices. Heartbreaking to think what women had to go through back then-both as patients and as medical providers.
Book club consensus: compelling story, interesting characters, great discussion and comparing the 1918 pandemic with today. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
TW: child abuse, sexual abuse, stillbirth
Hope y’all had a good weekend! Any exciting plans for the week? Not much going on in my little corner of the world. I have to start packing for vacation next week.
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