Now, THIS Should Have Been A Contender!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

                                      Certainly not for the "Ten Best," but certainly "Most Notable" list.  After being disappointed by "Frog Music," I set out to avoid Emma Donoghue,  but this one lured me back in.  What could be more perfect for these pandemic times  than this?  And it actually turns out  to be.   Perfect,  that is.

                                        Set over the course of three days in a Dublin hospital maternity ward, during the 1918 epidemic, the novel covers nurse Julia Power's  experiences there, aided and abetted by a forward thinking  physician,  who actually existed, Dr.  Kathleen Lynn.  Very feminine  centric, the novel examines the Irish attitude of the time  toward women; there is a line where one woman says of another, "He won't love her, unless he gives her twelve!"  Can you believe that, darlings?  But this was the real thinking of the time.  

                                         Not to mention the book is extremely graphic, and not for the squeamish.  

Stillbirths,  a detailed description of a Cesarean birth, and the removal of the placenta from a vagina, performed by Julia herself, should be noted.  I found it fascinating from a novice and biological standpoint, women  will relate, but some of both genders may find such details too off putting.

                                            They should not stop one from reading this beautiful, cogent novel.  Though I  put the book down at times,  due to the above, I always found it worth coming  back  to.  I am a Donoghue reader, again.

                                              Many books are sure to be written of  our current pandemic, once the entire  story can be  told.  That may be for awhile,  meanwhile Donoghue's novel offers great insight into how a similar  situation  in  a  country with less,  was dealt  with.  It should resonate, and alert those today to how to handle the pandemic in  our midst.

                                                A "must," darlings!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!