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  • The Pull of the Stars

  • A Novel
  • By: Emma Donoghue
  • Narrated by: Emma Lowe
  • Length: 9 hrs and 6 mins
  • 4.4 out of 5 stars (2,260 ratings)

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The Pull of the Stars

By: Emma Donoghue
Narrated by: Emma Lowe
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Publisher's summary

In Dublin, 1918, a maternity ward at the height of the Great Flu is a small world of work, risk, death, and unlooked-for love, in "Donoghue's best novel since Room" (Kirkus Reviews).

In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war and disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have come down with the terrible new flu are quarantined together. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders - Doctor Kathleen Lynn, a rumored Rebel on the run from the police, and a young volunteer helper, Bridie Sweeney.

In the darkness and intensity of this tiny ward, over 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 once again finds the light in the darkness in this new classic of hope and survival against all odds.

©2020 Emma Donoghue, Ltd. (P)2020 Hachette Audio

Editor's Pick

Historical fiction from the author of Room?
Yes, please.
I have many reasons to anticipate this story: I cried and cheered at Emma Donoghue’s Room; I love historical fiction; and 1918—the year of my grandmother’s birth—has a special place in my heart. I knew The Pull of the Stars would feel familiar in some ways, and in other ways I was hoping it could take me away from the US circa 2020. Surprisingly, I underestimated how familiar it would feel to listen to the daily struggles of three women, exhausted by World War I and the onslaught of a pandemic...I also miscalculated how much Emma Lowe’s authentic and engaging accent would provide a welcome respite from my own daily life. Her performance turns out to be just the vacation I needed this month! —Christina H., Audible Editor