Emma Donoghue is an Irish–Canadian playwright, literary historian, novelist, and screenwriter.

A smart lady, she has a degree from University College Dublin (in English and French) and a PhD in English from Girton College, Cambridge.

The Pull of the Stars (2020) is set in the 1918 influenza pandemic in Dublin, Ireland.

All the characters were fictional except Dr Kathleen Lynn.

A worse pandemic than this one.

The 1918 Flu killed about 3% of the world’s population. No vaccine. Poor understanding of how best to treat the dread disease.

The book is set over 3 days in a maternity ward where pregnant women with the Flu were isolated.

It’s both heartbreaking and inspiring.

Click PLAY or watch an author interview on YouTube.