The Pull of the Stars

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What to expect

Three days in a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu. The Pull of the Stars is the Sunday Times Bestseller from the acclaimed author of The Wonder and Room.

'An immersive, unforgettable fever-dream of a novel' – The Times

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.

Shortlisted for the An Post Irish Book Awards -- Eason Novel of the Year
The Telegraph's 'Best Novels of 2020'
Guardian's 'Brilliant Books to Transport You This summer', 'Best Books of 2020'
Cosmopolitan's 'Best Books to Read this summer'
Stylist's 'Best summer Reads

Critics Review

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
The Pull of the Stars has a fever dream-like quality . . . as a tender record of humans coping as best they can with a pandemic, it’s about as moving and absorbing as it gets
Evening Standard
A timely, exquisite and unputdownable reminder of love and compassion in the smallest room where women are giving birth and other women are dying and yet love - in all its joy and complexity - still finds a place
Rachel Joyce, author of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Extraordinarily prescient . . . With The Pull of the Stars, [Donoghue] again conjures up a setting that is at once claustrophobic in feel yet epic in sweep
Daily Telegraph
Donoghue writes with such brilliant relish . . . fascinating and resonant
Sunday Times
Eerily topical, Donoghue’s new novel reads like an episode of Call The Midwife set during a pandemic . . . It is some cocktail and Donoghue mixes the ingredients with impressive skill
Mail on Sunday
Remarkably prescient
Irish Independent
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'
It is rare for such a fast-paced story to be told so beautifully, and the writing is comical & exquisite
Irish Independent
Moving, gripping and dazzlingly written
Stylist
As strong and compelling as Jack in Room and Lib in The Wonder . . . a haunting and finely balanced literary novel
Guardian
Certainly, the currency of The Pull of the Stars gives it a gripping edge, but at its heart this is a story about friendship, love and compassion in extraordinary times . . . It's an engrossing read. Donoghue's writing is visceral and her female characters strike a powerful chord of humanity that stays with you
Australian Women's Weekly
Donoghue offers vivid characters and a gripping portrait of a world beset by a pandemic and political uncertainty. A fascinating read in these difficult times.
Booklist
Narrator Emma Lowe's layered characterizations include distinct Irish accents and diction that illuminate the backgrounds of the protagonists and hospital staff. The pregnant women in their care are depicted with particular sensitivity; their pain, joy, and loss are all keenly felt. As circumstances around the women intensify, so will listeners' investment in the outcomes of their stories.
AudioFile
Donoghue’s searing tale . . . Her blunt prose and detailed, painstakingly researched medical descriptions do full justice to the reality of the pandemic and the poverty that helps fuel it. Donoghue’s evocation of the 1918 flu, and the valor it demands of health-care workers, will stay with readers
Publishers Weekly
[Julia and Bridie’s] relationship forms the emotional core of a story rich in swift, assured sketches of achingly human characters coping as best they can in extreme circumstances . . . Darkly compelling, illuminated by the light of compassion and tenderness: Donoghue’s best novel since Room
Kirkus (starred review)
Eerily reminiscent of our current global health crisis, The Pull of the Stars brings readers intimately close to a world where health care workers risk it all to keep their patients alive
Time
Emma Donoghue's latest is getting an early release, and it's clear to understand why: In 1918 at the height of the Great Flu in Ireland, sick, pregnant women are quarantined together in a hospital while a group of overworked nurses tries to navigate their patients through the darkness
Marie Claire
Timely, punchy and gripping
Evening Standard

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