THE PULL OF THE STARS by Emma Donoghue ($34, HARPERCOLLINS)

Every month, we recommend a new must-read book. Here’s what you need to know.

- Emily Landau

WHAT IT’S ABOUT: See if this sounds familiar: a violent pandemic has engulfed the world, infecting millions, hospitalizing thousands, stretching health care systems to their limits and forcing essential workers into life-saving triage. Except in Emma Donoghue’s new novel, the year is 1918, not 2020, and the plague is the deadly, indiscriminate Spanish influenza, not COVID-19. The book unfolds over three harrowing days in the life of level-headed Dublin nurse Julia Power as she works furiously alongside a tough Dickensian orphan and a steely female doctor. The trio cares for patients stricken with the unfortunate double whammy of influenza and pregnancy. The result is a compelling minute-by-minute account of Julia’s apocalyptic experience working on the front lines.

WHY YOU’LL LOVE IT: Back in October 2018, Donoghue began to think about the centenary of the Great Flu, which prompted her to start writing The Pull