Inseparable

Still reeling from her recent divorce, Christine, the beloved protagonist of Dora Heldt’s uproarious Life After Forty, is sure that yet another birthday is the last thing she needs. But here it comes nonetheless, the big 4-4, in all its lonely midlife glory. Making matters worse is Christine’s fear that she has always relied too heavily on the support of her girlfriends. As the big day nears, she begins to think that none of those women can understand just what she’s going through. Alarmed by Christine’s growing despair, her best friend and sister hatch a plan to prove her wrong: They will gather together all of Christine’s old friends from the various stages of her life and throw a surprise party the likes of which she has never seen. Of course, finding all of those women turns out to be easier said than done! The final result proves to be a priceless gift, a moving and laugh-out-loud funny portrait of one woman as told through the stories of her friendships.

Dora Heldt was born in 1961 on the North Sea island of Sylt. She was trained as a bookseller and has worked in publishing since 1992. She is the author of Life After Forty and Vacation with Dad, which spent sixty-one weeks on Germany’s bestseller list upon its release there in 2008. She lives today in Hamburg, Germany. Jamie Lee Searle is a German-to-English translator who translates literary fiction, short stories, and articles for publishers and organizations throughout Europe and the United States. She also teaches German language and translation to undergraduate students. She is co-founder of the publishing collective And Other Stories, which seeks to promote and publish international literature in translation in the United Kingdom. She lives in London.