Nurse Julia Powers, just shy of 30 years old, lived with her younger brother who is damaged by the war. A trained obstetric nurse, she took a tram partway through rain soaked Dublin; unlocked her bicycle and rode the streets to the hospital. In 1918, dark, crowded and bleak, the Influenza Pandemic raged; people literally dying in the streets. Suddenly she was nurse in charge of a cramped three cot Maternity/Fever ward, a converted supply room. The usual charge nurse had taken ill with Influenza. Long shifts, only one nurse to relieve the next shift. Physicians in short supply. Bridie Sweeney, the only help that Nurse Julia was given, came from a ‘home’ run by an order of Roman Catholic nuns.
Throughout three days, Emma Donoghue describes scenes of child birth that horrified me. Poverty and malnutrition made birthing tragic and the effects of influenza compounded it. Julia Powers’ commitment to her patients pushed it all aside. She had to instruct Bridie Sweeney on the fly. Bridie was bright, attentive and willing to do whatever was necessary. Patient care, getting bandages or instruments, mopping the floor, running for a physician, carrying messages, and when there was time was getting food. Julia, with a doctor’s verbal orders, gave out ‘chloral’, whiskey and morphine. For a patient that refused all sedatives, she was given warm lemonade and aspirin. Julia made linseed poultices or used camphor to ease chests. One still birth, one baby born healthy, one baby born with a cleft palate. One mother died leaving her child motherless. The births were anything but easy. We can be very grateful for the times we live in.
One character in The Pull of the Stars was Dr. Kathleen Lynn, an obstetrician. This character is the only character in this novel that is historically real. The authors note tells the reader that she was vice president of the Sinn Féin executive and its director of public health. Although arrested, the mayor of Dublin freed her to work combatting the flu. There is more in the authors note about her history.
What an amazing read! And so well timed. This weekend I attended my nursing class reunion and thought of all the brave and dedicated nurses through years. I purchased this book because I’ve read others by Emma Donoghue. I had also heard an interview with her on CBC by Elinor Wachtel, so when I saw The Pull of the Stars at the local bookshop, I purchased it without knowing much about the story at all. I’m glad I took a chance on it.
“Nursing was like being under a spell: you went in very young
and came out older than any span of years could make you.”
~ Emma Donoghue, The Pull of the Stars
Title: The Pull of the Stars
Author: Emma Donoghue
Copyright: 2020
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, a division of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Type: Novel
Format: Fiction
ISBN - 978-0-316-49901-9 (hardcover)
ISBN - 978-0-316- 70529 -5 (large print)
LCCN - 2020935462
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