The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls

A Novel

By: Ursula Hegi

Narrated by: Angela Dawe

From beloved best-selling author Ursula Hegi, a new novel about three mothers, set on the shores of the Nordsee, perfect for fans of Water for Elephants and The Light Between Oceans.

In the summer of 1878, the Ludwig Zirkus arrives on Nordstrand in Germany, to the delight of the island’s people. But after the show, a Hundred-Year Wave roars from the Nordsee and claims three young children.

Three mothers are on the beach when it happens: Lotte, whose children are lost; Sabine, a Zirkus seamstress with her grown daughter; and Tilli, just a girl herself, who will give birth later that day at St. Margaret’s Home for Pregnant Girls. After the tragedy, Lotte’s husband escapes with the Zirkus, while she loses the will to care for their surviving son. Tilli steps in, bonding with him in a way she isn’t allowed to with her own baby, taken away at birth. Sabine, struggling to keep her childlike daughter safe in the world, forms a complicated friendship with Lotte. But the mothers' fragile trio is threatened when Lotte and her husband hatch a dangerous plan to reunite their family, and Tilli and Sabine must try to find a way to pull them back to reality.

As full of joy and beauty as it is of pain, and told with the luminous power that has made Ursula Hegi a beloved bestselling author for decades, The Patron Saint of Pregnant Girls is a shining testament to the ways in which women hold each other up in the most unexpected of circumstances.

A Macmillan Audio production from Flatiron Books

"Mesmerizing...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." (Publishers Weekly)

"A lyrical meditation on motherhood and mourning.” (Boston Globe)

©2020 Ursula Hegi (P)2020 Macmillan Audio

Critic reviews

"An outstanding talent.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Epic, daring, magnificent.” (Los Angeles Times)

“Unforgettable.” (The Washington Post)

Kind of all over the place

This is a good book, not a great book. I feel like the author had a lot of issues she wanted to write about and jammed them into one book. It’s- strange story. Interesting. Not what I expected but not bad.

Character Study - Grief and Agency

I'm glad I listened to this on audio. The prose is beautiful, but it is laced with German words, mostly cognates. Not speaking German, I would not catch the lyricism it provides the text. The narrator does an excellent job.

As to the content of the book: the plot is all in the publisher's book description. The novel is a character study of grief and, ultimately, how agency is developed and used. Having read a couple other books by this writer, I knew it would be less plot more character. If you want plot-focused literature, this won't be for you. If you want a lyrical character study, this book may work for you.