The Patron Saint Of Pregnant Girls

Saint Margaret is the patron saint of pregnant girls. The Saint Margaret Home for pregnant girls is located on an island in Germany in the North Sea. The home is run by nuns who also teach school to the children in the home. The head nun paints pictures of Saint Margaret on the walls of the church. The year is 1878. Every year there is a celebration of the oldest person in the town. That person gets to ride at the head of a parade. People get really competitive for the honor of being the oldest person in town. On the day celebrating the town's oldest person, three women are standing on the shore when a huge wave, a once in 100 years sized wave, comes up by surprise and carries three of one of the women's four children out to sea. Only her infant son survives. Another of the three women (actually a girl, she is only 11 years old) gives birth that day to a baby girl at the Saint Margaret Home and her baby is adopted. The third woman works to support the other two women as they cope with life in this small village. The Patron Saint Of Pregnant Girls by Ursula Hegi reads almost like a fairy tale. I was drawn to this book because I liked this author's other book, Stones From The River, which was also set in Germany. This was a charming story to read.