The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls

In Hegi’s mesmerizing tale (after Children and Fire) the loss of three children in a freak accident transforms their parents. In 1878, Lotte and Kalle Jansen are walking along the shore with their four small children in Nordstrand, Germany, when a hundred-year wave crashes on the beach, carrying away three of them. In Lotte’s grief, she can’t care for Wilhelm, her remaining child, who’s still nursing. The nuns at the St. Margaret Home for Pregnant Girls intervene by allowing 11-year-old Tilli to serve as wet nurse. By breastfeeding Wilhelm, Tilli assuages her sorrow over the adoption of her own infant daughter. Lotte soon rallies, paying more attention to Wilhelm and assisting as a midwife at St. Margaret’s. Kalle, a toy maker, believes his fantasy of traveling caused his children’s deaths, so he leaves town with the circus, convinced that Lotte and Wilhelm are better off without him. He returns a few months later to find that in her mourning, Lotte and Tilli have made a bizarre plan for their family’s future. Beautiful prose keeps the pages turning, and Hegi’s command of the plot and ability to render poignant characters create a satisfyingly emotional story. Hegi’s fans and devotees of literary fiction will treasure this. Agent: Gail Hochman, Brandt & Hochman. (Aug.)