Teach the Children to Pray

A lyrical, intimate portrait of a young woman's coming of age in a Germany torn apart by the Thirty Years War, Teach the Children to Pray is a novel for anyone who has ever grappled with the question of how to live well in difficult times. "Pray, children, pray / Tomorrow comes the Swede / Tomorrow comes Oxenstiern' / To teach the children to pray / Pray, children, pray" - German children's rhyme, the Thirty Years War 1618. A witch hunt forces ten year-old Josefine Dorn and her father to the harsh, unforgiving roads of Germany. That same year, Bohemian Protestants throw the Holy Roman Emperor's regents from a castle window, sparking a religious war that soon engulfs the whole Empire. Driven by misfortune and desperation, Josefine's father enlists, and Josefine follows him into the army's baggage train. In the army, Josefine learns to survive, first as a child looking after her soldier father, and later, in the unlikely role of field surgeon, tending to the war's broken and ailing. Josefine's story is interwoven with the ordinary people of Germany-men and women; Protestants, Catholics and Jews; believers and nonbelievers-as they strive to hold onto what truly matters in spite of plundering armies and narrow-minded princes. Evocatively written and infused with warmth and humanity, Teach the Children to Pray brings to life a richly-drawn cast of characters through the eyes of its striking heroine and her extraordinary story of lost faith, forbidden love, and the search for peace in a time of endless war.