Synopsis
The Sunday Times bestseller and Richard & Judy Book Club Pick, from the acclaimed author of Room.
The Pull of the Stars is set during three days in a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu.
'Moving, gripping and dazzlingly written' – Stylist
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 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.
In The Pull of the Stars, Emma Donoghue tells an unforgettable and deeply moving story of love and loss.
'A visceral, harrowing, and revelatory vision of life, death, and love in a time of pandemic. This novel is stunning' – Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
'Reads like an episode of Call The Midwife set during a pandemic' – Mail on Sunday
Guardian, Cosmopolitan and Telegraph's 'Books of the Year'
Details
Reviews
“A visceral, harrowing, and revelatory vision of life, death, and love in a time of pandemic. This novel is stunning”Emily St. John Mandel, author of Station Eleven
“A timely, exquisite and unputdownable reminder of love and compassion”Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
“One of the Emerald Isle’s most glittering literary lights, Donoghue here delivers a historical fiction turned timely reminder of human resilience”Oprah Magazine, 'Best Books of Summer 2020'
“As strong and compelling as Jack in Room and Lib in The Wonder . . . a haunting and finely balanced literary novel”Sarah Moss, The Guardian
