The Patron Saint of Lost Girls

by Maureen Aitken

It’s the Midwest in the 1970-80s, and Mary is growing up in Detroit, where the recession hits hard, and jobs are scarce. In a set of linked stories, Mary tries to conjure the spirits of protection to confront economic struggle, violence, addiction, and death. Mary moves to cities across the Midwest looking for work, all the while learning the healing power of dignity from the true her community of friends and family who teach her to love better, live fuller, and question power. An ode to the creative spirit’s ability to transcend hardship, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls paints an unflinching portrait of women’s resilience in the face of injustice.

Recent
“Although each piece can stand entirely on its own, together these brief glimpses weave a rich tapestry of a life, incorporating themes of family and romance, work and destitution, inspiration and addiction, determination and loss … Overall, the author delivers these stories with poetic grace, resulting in a book that will linger in the reader’s mind long after the final page.”

- Starred Review, Kirkus Review

“Maureen Aitken’s The Patron Saint of Lost Girls pretends to be a collection of short stories but is not. Instead, advantages of both short-story and novel formats are fused into a mutation which is neither. By the time this subterfuge is exposed, it is more deserving of a standing ovation than an apology. Given the astounding result of Aitken’s web of independent yet intimately related stories, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls reveals a previously underexplored genre, one that storytellers have failed to take advantage of. Its rare technique is far worthier of being the norm than the exception.”
- Starred Review, Linda Thorlakson, Foreword Review

“In these stories, Aitken manages to write prose that sings along the page, leading us through pain, tragedy, and finding oneself in the most beautiful way possible … The world has been aching for a piece of literature that touches upon the topics that Aitken covers throughout the collection … Aitken’s The Patron Saint of Lost Girls is a moving examination of the complex emotions that come along with womanhood, poverty, and growing up in an unforgiving world … Each story can stand on its own, but together they paint an unforgettable work of art.”
- Téa Franco, Heavy Feather Review

“Mary's experiences are a microcosm of American life ("This was America. Who doesn't know an addict but the addict himself?"), and are an enriching way to absorb not only the protagonist in this series of sparkling vignettes, but the pulse of American society as a whole … Maureen Aitken has produced a masterpiece highly recommended not only for fans of literary fiction (and most deserving of being the Nilsen Prize for a First Novel Winner), but for anyone seeking a winning, accessible and compelling portrait of growing up female in Detroit in an era where everything familiar is changing.”
- Diane Donovan, Midwest Book Review.

Genres: Short Stories

176 pages, Paperback

First published October 8, 2018

About the author

Maureen Aitken is the recipient of the Nilsen Prize for her collection of stories, The Patron Saint of Lost Girls, which is being reissued by Wayne State University Press in September, 2025. The collection has earned a Kirkus Star, a Foreword Star, and three of its stories have received Pushcart Prize nominations. Her fiction has been published in journals such as Prairie Schooner, The Journal, Puerto del Sol and the international anthology, The Bering Strait and Other Stories. Her work has received a Minnesota State Arts Board’s Artist Initiative Grant, a Loft Mentor Award, a grant from the SASE/Jerome Foundation, and an award from Ireland’s Fish Short Story Prize. Aitken holds an MFA degree from the University of Minnesota and teaches in the University’s Department of Writing Studies. She is currently working on a memoir about art and a novel.

Reviews

[SoDak · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maureen Aitken's collection of interconnected stories is a vivid portrait of a girl coming of age in the crumbling city of Detroit while she is gaining awareness of a bigger world beyond her family and her neighborhood. It is at once brutally honest about the poverty and decay she finds in her neighborhood, and compassionate about the characters who are sometimes victims and sometimes aggressors in the tumultuous environment of the 1970s.

Her sense of history and place is spot-on, and comparable to other writers who found the entire world within their own limited environment. Even though I grew up in western South Dakota around the same time as this book's principal action, in an environment that couldn't be further away from inner-city Detroit, I experienced the same kinds of observations and anxieties that Maureen describes in her character Mary's life.

What's more, Maureen's writing style is uniquely sharp and observant, poetic in its casual observations of astounding detail, such as in her noting "Buttercups grew in the weeds, and I pulled a few. The moon hung in the daytime sky like a wafer." Her effortless prose paints a brilliant picture of her characters and environment with an economy of words that demonstrates her mastery of the art of fiction.

This is a stunning collection of waking consciousness which culminates into awareness and understanding, and along the way, it is both funny and entertaining. It is the best fiction I have read in a long time.

[Barbara Lhota · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dark, funny and full of insight. Provacative and compelling
Ms. Aitken, can she write!!! The turns of phrase are unique, darkly funny, and full of insight. Though short stories, they culminate into a compelling full journey. If you grew up in the seventies and eighties, this book will resonate.

[E.J. Levy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An affecting and lyric and gritty collection of stories, both wise and sounding. This is a gem.

[Anja · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of stories focuses on a woman named Mary, during the 1970-1980s when a recession hits Detroit & as she moves across the Midwest.

The stories may resonate with people who lived in that time period, in Detroit, but they feel even more urgent now. Struggling to make ends meet, facing the cruelty of both every-day life and pointed deaths, killings & disappearings, as well as terminal illness, addiction, and the joy of meaningful moments.

This reads as both acutely aware and mournful of dying cities and generational losses of youth, time, and innocence. And it is a celebration of life, of choice, of the Midwest & blue-collar work ethic, and an ode to the strength of place and family.

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

The exquisite images of beauty, pain, decay, self-awareness and hope expressed in these short stories will pierce your heart. Highly recommend.

[Jason Arias · Rating 5 out of 5]

An engaging and well-crafted collection of loosely connected stories that mostly take place in the Detroit area. Aitken handles these stories like a curator, taking great care to preserve all of the emotion and implications infused into each moment. In many ways this collection grows with each story: from the childhood backseat of a family road trip, to the college-age years of pillaging abandoned homes, to a reflective journalist at the scene of a dead body while confronting her own mortality and life choices. This is an author to watch.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not usually a big fan of short story collections, but this is the second excellent one I've read this month. What's not to like? 70's and 80's Detroit is the backdrop for most of the stories. Though, I liked far more than just the setting. I think my favorite was 'Family Trip,' in which the family takes a two week car vacation (sound familiar anyone?), but leaves their dog in the car of the neighbors to "guard the house." The preteen heroine pines for the dog the whole trip. You just know something bad is going to happen -- I mean this is Detroit, right? The family pulls in the drive at the end of their odyssey, and the neighbor is standing solemly awaiting them. Uh oh. No spoilers, you'll have to scrounge your own copy to find out if Chip survives.

Thematically the stories all held together, and I enjoyed pretty much everyone one.

[Elisa Sinnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

What lingers for me is the story of the young woman working at the Detroit Institute of Art, with a partner she longs to keep, but he insists on buying an old house on a street that's suffered redlining, political neglect. It conveys how women sometimes have to "ride along" as their partners are clearly not in a relationship, but acting on their own, and how women have to make sacrifices in order to keep them. Such an intimate portrait of disparity between the sexes in a male/female relationship. It evoked for me that lost empowered sense that permeated my twenties. So real.

[Tim Trainor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Patron Saint of Lost Girls: Brilliant series of short stories about young women living in a broken city called Detroit. Maureen Aitken has a gift of storytelling and use of metaphors funny, sad and all too true that enrich her prose and draw out her characters in challenging and sometimes brutal circumstances. If you don't read this book, my little brother will come to your house and beat you up.

[Rocky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it.

[Mimi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. The stories are loosely related.

[avery · Rating 3 out of 5]

this says it isn’t scheduled for release until late 2025, but my library randomly had a copy that says they acquired it in 2019? Published by southeast state Missouri university press. Anyways this is a short story collection about a woman from Detroit named Mary and all the stories are from different parts of her life from childhood to adulthood. it was kind of bleak and boring but i think that was the point? my favorite stories were “the family trip” and “squeak”.

[Rachel Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author has done a brilliant job of exploring the human condition through a series of eloquently told short stories that could each stand alone, but tie together very well in book format. Mary's life has been filled with hardship and heartbreak, yet she survives; and we can all learn a lot from her.

[Sylvia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loosely linked short stories, I was interested because I love that structure and the setting was Detroit, where I lived for many years. I think one problem was the hip, cool tone and often plot. I was too old for this book. I couldn’t relate and I had little empathy for the characters.

[Lisa Heinsohn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written series of short stories about growing up in the 70’s in Detroit, dealing with the imperfect world. It deals with love, loss, poverty, job insecurity, family, friendship, illness and death. I recommend.

[Carol Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a series of short stories that are somewhat linked together. I did enjoy a few of them but overall I was glad to be done with it - growing up in Detroit in the '70's and '80's was hard.

[Brittany Durgin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some stories I really enjoyed, others seemed to fall flat.

[Will · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the shortest stories in this volume. Loved Aitken's stories in and about Detroit.

[Krista Rolfzen Soukup · Rating 5 out of 5]

An exquisite book by Maureen Aitken. Keep this work of literary fiction on your forever bookshelf. A work of Art.