'Love. Life is about loving the person you want to wake up next to. Writing is about writing about something other than "love" for a change. Toothpaste. Or the corner of a duvet cover. Or primal trust.' A Sunday in September 2005: Four weeks until the election of Germany's first female chancellor, only twenty-eight days left for bestselling author Vera Albach to finish her novel at record speed. After starting out with pulp fiction in the 1960s and making her way in a man's world, this was to be her last book; she had promised her husband, Leo. But letting go wasn't as easy as she thought. Perhaps, like in any good book, real life needs a little surprise before true happiness? A woman who dares to dream, a marriage of equals—and a decades-long love, sustained by respect, understanding, and a worldly-wise sense of humor.