THE PULL OF THE STARS by Emma Donoghue

 Emma Donoghue showed in Room how much story could be told in a tiny physical space, a truly memorable reading experience of how a life can be made in a single room. The room in this novel is not much bigger - containing 3 beds for pregnant women very closely set together, a small clearly overloaded table/sink/shelf unit for towels, cleaning, hygiene products. paper work, medicines. Plus two nurses. As if that is not bad enough, it is 1918, in Dublin, bang in the middle of the world wide influenza pandemic. Did you know the word 'influenza' is part of a longer phrase, from Italian in the 15th century,  meaning influence of the stars? No one knew where flu came from, so it had to be from the stars/heavens/God. 

Julia Power is a midwife. Because she has had the flu and recovered, she is one of a handful of nursing staff able to care for patients with flu. Flu-ridden pregnant women are in a ward of their own - this tiny 3 bed space. Medical care and supplies are pretty rudimentary in early 20th century Dublin, so Julia has to do a lot with very little. Plus being a nurse, she is not allowed to make important care decisions such as pain relief without a doctor being present. Few and far between during a pandemic. The one doctor who does do her best is a woman also - most unusual for these times. She has been involved in the revolution of a few years before, and is still a wanted woman by the authorities. Assisting Julia is a young orphan girl, Bridie, who has her own sad story that gradually emerges in the pressure cooker room. 

The novel covers  a period of maybe 2 days. During this time, these women work frenetically to keep their patients alive, to deal with births of babies, the inevitable deaths, the complications of pregnancy and birth while suffering from a deadly flu. It is edge of the seat stuff. The author has thoroughly researched the period and place, her writing so vivid and clear you can almost smell the disinfectant, sweat, pain and fatigue of the make shift delivery room. The lives of these women is also carefully told - the appalling living conditions most families had to contend with, the insane number of babies these women gave birth to under the ridiculous pretext that you haven't made it as a mother/woman/wife until you have given birth 12 times. There are also some interesting male characters, all of whom have returned from the war damaged in some way.

Such a beautifully told story of finding meaning in life, and finding love in the most dreadful circumstances. My favourite Emma book so far.