The Pull of the Stars

In an Ireland doubly ravaged by war & disease, Nurse Julia Power works at an understaffed hospital in the city center, where expectant mothers who have fallen sick are quarantined into a separate ward to keep the plague at bay. Into Julia's regimented world step two outsiders — a woman doctor who is a rumored Rebel, & a teenage girl, Bridie, procured by the nuns from their orphanage as an extra set of hands. At first this Bridie seems unschooled in life — she makes up a bed with only the rubber mat, & savors the weak tea & barely edible porridge from the hospital kitchen. 

But in the intensity of this ward, over three brutal days, Julia & the women come together in unexpected ways. In the darkness, in the despair, as people die quickly & cruelly from...

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Born in Dublin in 1969, Emma Donoghue is an Irish emigrant twice over: she spent 8 years in Cambridge doing a PhD in 18th-century literature before moving to London, Ontario. She also migrates between genres, writing literary history, biography, stage & radio plays as well as fairy tales & short stories. She is best known for her novels, which range from the historical (The Wonder, Frog Music, Slammerkin, Life Mask, The Sealed Letter) to the contemporary (Stir-Fry, Hood, Landing). Her international bestseller Room was a New York Times Best Book of 2010 & was a finalist for the Man Booker, Commonwealth, & Orange Prizes.

Donoghue was nominated for an Academy Award for her 2015 adaptation starring Brie Larson. She cowrote the screenplay for the film of her 2016 novel, The Wonder, starring Florence Pugh, coming from Netflix in 2022. For more information, visit emmadonoghue.com.