Excerpt from The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue, plus links to reviews, author biography & more

I made a face.

Have you tried it?

Once, for the novelty, but it's nasty stuff.

Whatever keeps me going…Gladys drained her cup, smacked her lips, and left the mug on the dirty-dishes table.

I didn't want to stay without anyone to talk to, so I collected some watery cocoa and a slice of war bread, which was always dark but varied in its adulterations—barley, oats, and rye, certainly, but one might find soya in there too, beans, sago, even the odd chip of wood.

Excerpted from The Pull of the Stars by Emma Donoghue. Copyright © 2020 by Emma Donoghue. Excerpted by permission of Little Brown & Company. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.