The Accidental Santera

In this debut novel, a field biologist, unsatisfied in her career and unhappy in her marriage after suffering three miscarriages, discovers Santería (the Yoruba religion brought by African slaves to the Caribbean where it mixed with Catholicism). Gabrielle Segovia lets loose while attending a conference in New Orleans and has a “reading” at Madam Laveau's House of Voodoo, where the spirit tells her that she doesn't need a doctor, the babies will come when she finds her spiritual path. Back home, Gabrielle reluctantly agrees to see a fertility specialist, but despite learning that she does have physical problems, she refuses further medical care and turns to Santería to fulfill her wish to conceive. She travels to Miami and to her Santería-practicing Puerto Rican cousins, and soon Gabrielle is ditching work and planning her “ocha,” her initiation into Santería. The author, writing under a pseudonym, is knowledgeable about her subject; she's a former scientist and a practicing santera, and does an entertaining job of contrasting science with religious beliefs. All ends happily in this lighthearted first novel that puts a contemporary Latin face on a fascinating and ancient religion. (Oct.)