Maja and Cora have been friends ever since they were sixteen. They are not easily outdone by men when it comes to daring, and they do not draw too fine a line between trivial offences, murder and manslaughter. Woe betide anyone who gets in the way of their fun in Tuscany! ›Die Häupter meiner Lieben‹ is a dashing novel which describes how the two heroines solve their family problems in their own particular way. In the loveless environment in which she grew up, Maja was known as »elephant«, and the only way she could get what she needed was through petty theft - until she met the mysterious, unfathomable Cora through whose influence she gradually frees herself from her family ties. On the other hand Cora the artist works off her discomfiture on her pictures which are vaguely reminiscent of Judith and Holofernes. And it does not take long for real life to catch up with her paintings... ›Die Häupter meiner Lieben‹ is a fantastic story which is certainly not lacking in charm or chutzpah!

Luisa, 15, who was adopted from Peru as a baby, has a sheltered upbringing with affluent parents. She has a special gift: Luisa can see in the dark. When she encounters a young homeless man in the nearby woods, she takes him to her heart. Tim relies on her help and her willingness to conceal him, because he has every reason to remain invisible. Luisa’s gift turns her into an accomplice, entangling her in a web of lies and crime that becomes harder and harder to escape.

Was there ever a closer women's friendship than that between Maja and Cora in ›Die Häupter meiner Lieben‹? Yet it is not only from men that the merrily murdering maidens emancipate themselves, but from each other too, when the fight for happiness begins... It was and is nothing new, the fact that men hardly look at me when Cora is by my side. How can my straight, light brown hair compete with her red lion's mane? My grey eyes with her green ones? People trying to be kind say I am small but fine, whereas Cora is described as a »dream woman« or a »thoroughbred«. From afar, probably nobody sees me at all. This is what Maja is thinking as she longs to escape from the shadow of her friend. And yet they are really so inseparable. After all, good girls go to heaven, and Maja and Cora can go anywhere they please if they stick together. It is not only in Tuscany that there are so many battles to be fought for villas and riches. Frankfurt am Main is another tough place: the two friends help some other women in their fight against a pimp and a lawyer with close associations with the red-light milieu. Maja impresses Cora by her spectacular actions; as in times gone by, they join forces and vanquish the enemy, thereby relieving other women of their burdens...

»We could smuggle, steal, deal drugs, murder, break in to houses, blackmail and kidnap as often as we pleased, nobody would ever suspect us. Nobody would be able to provide the police with our description, because it has been years since anyone has really looked at us. We, the grey brigade, are the invisible ghost army of the nation.« It is unladylike thoughts such as these that run through the mind of 73-year-old Lore. In her old age, she lives with her best friend Anneliese. They have known each other since they were ten, but now they have moved even closer together: a two-woman household. Lore's husband has started a relationship with a younger woman, while Anneliese's has unfortunately passed away. Together the two ladies hang on to their old memories. Just when it appears that their new life is getting off to a gentle and demure start, along comes Ewald, Anneliese's childhood sweetheart, whom they both met long ago at dancing lessons. Naturally, he has not spent his life alone either. In fact, he is a somewhat more lively than his two old girlfriends would like. With her familiar humour, Ingrid Noll depicts the kind of surprises that the last period of life has to offer. The age of hair-buns and humility is over – now seniors run around in their sneakers. And if their own children don't take care of them, they take in a couple of students...

Irma, 40, has transformed the ›Zum Hirschen‹ inn into the popular vegetarian restaurant ›Aubergine‹. The creative proprietress employs a motley crew: a 17-year-old school truant as her Girl Friday; a gossipy commis chef; a former globetrotter as waiter and manager. And the 80-year-old ›vegetable man‹, who helps to prep the vegetables and is believed to be almost deaf. And like in any close-knit community, it’s not all sunshine; there’s conflict too.

A ramshackle old villa, money worries, an aged mother, two daughters with unsuitable boyfriends, a badly paid, boring job at the residents' registration office – that is how Ellen's daily life looks. Divorced and getting on in years, her future seems to have lost its rosy glow. Only a fairy-tale prince can save her, but Ellen does not believe in miracles. Then a good-looking man turns up, claiming to be her half-brother. Following some genetic tests, astonishing family secrets are unearthed. The invitation to join a Mediterranean cruise should help them to get to know one another better, and for Ellen it promises to be the experience of a lifetime. But the illusion of a last great love ends up going overboard ... and it is not alone.

Finding herself in the grip of an unholy obsession, Rosemarie is soon phoning Engstern just to hear his voice, spying on him from his own garden just to get a glimpse of him. But Rosemarie doesn't like what she sees, for she is not the only woman who wants this charismatic man, and how can she possibly compete with women half her age, not to mention an unpredictable wife?

Friends Nina and Franziska live in the same building on the market square in a small town in southwest Germany. In a fit of champagne-induced enthusiasm, they and four other women found the ›Nutters’ Club‹, based on the idea that there is something odd about each one of them. 
When Nina loses her handbag, she makes the fateful acquaintance of Andreas Haase. Not satisfied with the usual finder’s fee, he wants more – and Nina will need to rely on her best friend more than ever before.

Nelly just got rid of Matthew. But being a thirty-something single mum, she has to find a way to earn some extra money. Luckily, she has plenty of space and a talent for cooking, so Nelly invites paying guests over to her house for lunch. Among the few women are more interesting men: a captain, who has not been at sea in ages, a very tanned sports instructor, an insurance salesman and an equally handsome and smart electrician. Unfortunately, the latter does not turn up alone. The good thing is though, that his better half suffers from a nut allergy... Ingrid Noll cooks up something special, where she mingles with people as well as with ingredients.

Mama's baby – papa's maybe? ›Cuckoo's Child‹ is a story about three paternity tests, a pregnancy test, a baby in a laundry basket, a few dead persons and unconventional family bliss in a nest which, though entirely unfamiliar, is nonetheless rather cosy. »A little house with a garden, a happy marriage and above all two children, those were my goals in life«, Anja, a teacher in her late thirties thinks to herself. Far from having reached her goals, she is stuck in a ›rat hole‹ as she calls the lodging into which she fled following her divorce. When her colleague Birgit becomes pregnant, Anja can't help suspecting the child was conceived by her own ex-husband. She persuades Birgit's husband secretly to undergo a paternity test. The side effects are potentially dangerous… With an equal portion of humour and insight into the slings and arrows of nest-building, ›Cuckoo's Child‹ depicts family constellations which are anything but boring and common. In the process she shows that the road to happiness is not always straight and smooth.

There is a Spanish saying, »The tongue is like a dagger in the flesh.« But what happens when a mother and son speak in false tongues, deceiving each other at every turn? Ingrid Noll's Collected Short Stories relate the tales of unusual mothers and peculiar men. How did the virgin give birth to a child? The book begins with a retelling of the story of Christmas. A conservative dominatrix, an unhappy mother, an amorous dog, a carnival souvenir and an unusual half-sister narrate the joys and suffering of motherhood. The men too display unexpected talents, whether it be collecting autographs, fishing, knitting sweaters, inviting home their female students – or even bumping off their wives in elegant fashion. Malicious pleasures bring variety into everyday drudgery, and unexpected presents lead to an ill-fated Christmas…