Pastorin Friederike "Rike" Albrecht
Written for readers who have finished Book 1.
Pastorin Rike Albrecht leads the Lydia-Gemeinde, and you feel her before you see her. When she comes into the parish hall with her coat over her arm, the whole room turns towards her like a field of sunflowers. She knows every name. She asks after the toddler's cough and the thin man's week, sits two minutes with a widower before he has to decide whether to be brave or go home, and takes a tired mother's baby so the woman can drink one cup of coffee with both hands. She preaches grace as though it had been written that week for these people. Sabine has never met anyone who so completely means what she says, and when Rike asks her to help with something, Sabine says yes before the sentence is finished.