Here is a picture of me, taken recently in the English farmlands of Lincolnshire. I grew up in the German spa town of Baden-Baden, in the Black Forest of Germany, very near the French border. My life inspired the story Best Friends are the Best: my father leaving for war against the Russians; my mother taking us to our grandmother in Thuringia, in central Germany; the experience of the American and Russian armies; our return to Baden-Baden at the end of the war. And, above all, friendship with my best friend Gabi in Thuringia, on which my story was based.

In the second part of the book, Marie becomes a close friend of a French boy in Baden-Baden. The French army that occupied that part of Germany did not allow friendships between German and French children. But Marie and Henri don’t care and have a lot of fun together. Again, Marie realizes how much friendship is worth in hard times.

After the war, I finished high school in the Black Forest and studied English for a year in Yorkshire, England. I then worked for a university in Boston, USA, then for German Television and for the International Monetary Fund in Washington. Back in Germany, I worked for two international banks and married David in 1974. I started a translation office, and translated about 130 books from English to German. Most of them were for children and young adults.

But, of all the places where I’ve lived and worked, some of my fondest memories are of my best friend – whom I call Gabi in my story – and of the time we spent in the small town in Thuringia. And this is why I based my story on my time with her.