The government says cases are on the decline, and it supposedly has the pandemic under control. Schools are closed, and stores are out of disinfectant. Wearing of masks is being encouraged, but not everyone thinks it wise. Folk wisdom is sometimes misconstrued for facts. This book isn’t about 2020, but the influenza of 1918. It takes place in Dublin, and the hospital is functioning understaffed and beyond its capacity with patients. Influenza hits the poor and misfortunate people the worst, and the world is at war.
Nurse Julia Power is a midwife and works in a maternity ward (room) dedicated to pregnant women who have influenza. Emma Donaghue specializes in having the action take place in small, confined rooms. This book accentuates her talent for writing so the reader understands how it feels to be limited in space while women labor, deliver babies, nurse babies, lose babies, and sometimes die themselves. The atmosphere that Julia manages among her patients mimics the battles and blood of the war taking place in the outside world.
A volunteer, Bridie Sweeney, who has no training or experience, is sent by one of the Catholic nuns to help Nurse Julia with her maternity patients’ complex needs. Additionally, a female Doctor Kathleen Lynne, whose character is based on a real doctor of the time, arrives at the short-staffed hospital. Doctor Lynne is “on the run” because of her political affiliations, validates Julia’s skills as a nurse-midwife, and awakens latent political and personal urges in Julia. The three main female protagonists contribute to making this a novel where women are depicted as capable and powerful. Even the nuns, who sometimes abuse their power as evidenced in the story’s events, are quite powerful in the city and the hospital.
The text contains graphic descriptions of childbirth, including a stillbirth. There are vivid details of hemorrhages, placentas, convulsions, and of course, nasty reports of influenza. Julia’s compassion for her patients grows throughout the story, and her confidence grows as the crises develop. Despite the frenetic environment, a strong bond develops between Julia and Bridie. Donaghue includes many issues and themes in this relatively short novel, and I highly recommend it includes many issues and themes in this relatively short novel and I highly recommend it.
