![]() ![]() ![]() Her patients are pregnant women of various economic backgrounds. In spare prose, Donoghue documents Julia’s harrowing three days. ![]() Julia is to serve as acting ward sister in her stead. One morning, when Julia arrives at the Roman Catholic hospital where she has worked since age 21, she learns that the head of the maternity/fever ward has taken ill. ![]() She lives with her younger brother, Tim, who suffers from war neurosis and has remained mute since his return from the front. Nurse Julia Power is a single woman about to turn 30. The novel takes place over three days in Dublin, from Halloween to All Souls’ Day, when World War I is winding down and the flu is ravaging the population. She couldn’t have foreseen how relevant this story would feel upon its publication. As Emma Donoghue explains in the author’s note to The Pull of the Stars, her thinly plotted but moving new novel, the centenary of the 1918 flu pandemic inspired her to write this work. As everyone now knows, the challenges of being a health care worker are exponentially greater during a global pandemic. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |