The Pull of the Stars

It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and one of the best books I read all 2020.

The uncanny timing of this beautifully written short novel made it both a wonder and an something I had to set aside for a little while. It follows three days in the life of a maternity ward nurse in Dublin, Ireland during the Great Flu Pandemic of 1919 in the wake of World War I and almost a year into the Irish War of Independence. Julia’s tiny ward of sick expectant mother’s is forever changed by the introduction of a Dr. K. Lynn (Sinn Fein activist) and Bridie Sweeney a young woman volunteer at the hospital. It’s beautiful, heartbreaking, and one of the best books I’ve read all year.