The Pull of the Stars

In Ireland of 1918, the flu pandemic is raging through the country. Three women, a nurse, a doctor, and a young orphan woman cross paths in the maternity ward of a hospital.

I don't want to give away the story, but it and the characters in it are worth your time. While the nurse and young orphan woman are fictional characters, Doctor Kathleen Lynn is a real historical person who was a member of Sinn Fein and being pursued by the police.

The parallels between the flu pandemic of 1918 and the COVID-19 pandemic today and people's reactions then and now make you realize that 100 years is not such a great divide of time.

My only complaint; Ms. Donoghue's style of writing is a narrative where dialogue is never offset by quotes and punctuation that is painfully distracting. I almost stopped reading the book early on because of it, but I persevered and I'm glad I did.

Highly recommended.