The pull of the stars, by Emma Donoghue

Talk about timing…. Donoghue, author of the highly acclaimed “Room” among others, began writing her newest novel at the end of 2018 which marked the 100th anniversary of the influenza pandemic that devasted much of the globe post-World War I. She finished it in March of this year just as Covid-19 hit. The 1918 admonishments, “SEE ONLY THOSE PERSONS ONE NEEDS TO SEE. REFRAIN FROM SHAKING HANDS, LAUGHING, OR CHATTING CLOSELY TOGETHER,” and “THE GOVERNMENT HAS THE SITUTATION WELL IN HAND AND THE EPIDEMIC IS ACTUALLY IN DECLINE” are eerily familiar 100 years later. I couldn’t put it down, but it is not for the faint of heart, as the themes include misogyny, patriarchy, and child abuse by the Catholic Church, as well as very vivid gynecological depictions of what can go wrong in childbirth. Set in Dublin, it covers just three days in the life of Nurse Julia Power, an unmarried woman about to turn thirty, who works at the local hospital. She lives with her younger brother, Tim, who has been rendered mute by his experience in battle and the loss of a close friend. Pregnant patients suffering from the flu have been isolated in a small reconfigured supply area to protect those in the maternity ward unaffected by the disease. As the novel open, a staffing shortage leaves Julia in sole charge of the three cots which will be occupied over these days by several ill and fragile patients. Luckily, she has unexpectedly been sent an assistant, Bridget (Bridie) Sweeney. Bridie, a small, undernourished and uneducated girl, turns out to be a ray of light, unflappable, and very quick study from the first hours. The two women quickly form a bond. In the absence of male doctors struck down by the disease, Dr. Kathleen Lynn (a real historical figure) is serving at the hospital. She has been involved as a Rebel in the Easter Uprising and is still on the run from the police. These characters and the women patients (including a 17-year-old bride, a wife delivering her twelfth (not all living) child, and a unwed mother) are very believably drawn, and one is left wanting to know more about the real Dr. Kathleen Lynn. Not exactly escapist fiction at this time. An excellent book with a somewhat weak ending. 295 pp.