Droemer Knaur*

6
ROMANTIC WOMEN’S FICTION
Laila El Omari
The Scent of Sandalwood
688 pages, 3-426-62986-0
April 2007
A historical romance set in India
In 1753, Damien Catrall returns to
Madras from England, where he studied
medicine. Damien is to become engaged
to the daughter of one of his stepfather’s
close friends so that the two families will
be united. Having become engaged,
Damien heads for Bombay to be a doctor
for the East India Company. After a year,
the company transfers him to Calcutta.
Elisha, the daughter of his host, has fallen
in love with Damien, but knows that he
can’t break the promise to his family.
Damien postpones his wedding indefinitely,
saying he first wants to establish
himself in society as a doctor. An additional
reason, is that he can’t stop thinking
of Elisha. He returns to Bombay, and
the two begin a secret love affair. When it
comes to light, the scandal threatens to
ruin both of them, and Damien’s only
chance to regain his standing in society is
to offer his services as a doctor to the
British army in their seven-year war in the
Indian colonies. Before he leaves
Bombay, he secretly gets engaged to
Elisha. But as soon as the war has ended,
he returns to reclaim the love of his life.
Laila El Omari was born in Germany to a
Palestinian father and a German mother.
Her first novel, The English Heiress,
was also published by Knaur.
Anne Hertz
Two Dots on the Ultrasound
368 pages, 3-426-62978-X
October 2007
Svenja, age 37, is about to be promoted
to the executive ranks of an advertising
agency. But then she finds out she’s
pregnant. The father is someone she had
a fling with on vacation, she doesn’t even
have his address. And that’s not the only
surprise in store for Svenja: the ultrasound
picture clearly shows two dots.
She’s having twins.
When the agency finds out she’s pregnant,
her promotion is postponed. The
family side of things isn’t turning out
much better: her mother doesn’t want to
be a “babysitter on call,” neither does her
sister. Svenja starts getting desperate:
she wants to come back from her maternity
leave as her old self, giving her bosses
no reason not to promote her. Her
last hope is a full-time nanny, but she
only finds ones she can’t afford, or ones
she would never trust with her children.
Then she meets 29-year-old Alexei. He’s
great with kids and needs money … and
he makes an unusual suggestion: he can
move in with her as a male nanny. The
idea is utterly absurd … but what’s the
alternative?
Anne Hertz, born in Hamburg in 1971,
studied law. After her studies she began
to write short stories and novels. She
also works for several magazines.
Leni Ohngemach
Young and Younger
336 pages, 3-426-63438-7
August 2007
A captivating story about getting
older, this is the second novel by the
successful screenwriter
Star designer Yves has a nervous breakdown
and has to leave the fashion house
Virgo. His “girl Friday” Vera sees her big
chance: a spot among the executives!
But unlikable Tristan Schmied becomes
managing director. Vera is not in his
plans – the very idea that a thirty-yearold
could design clothes for young
people!
Two gay friends of Vera come up with a
plan: with lots of makeup, far-out clothes,
and a few other clever touches, they turn
goody two-shoes Vera into a wild thing.
Assuming this new identity as “Vera’s
cousin Luna,” Vera infiltrates the company,
and starts stirring things up. Tristan is
fascinated by this young newcomer. He
falls for Luna, Vera falls for a coworker
named Alexander, and the pressures of
living a double life begin. She decides
that Luna has to be “killed“, and what she
doesn’t suspect is that there’s more to
Alexander than meets the eye …
Leni Ohngemach studied dramatics and
literature in Munich. Amongst others she
wrote screenplays for the successful
cinema movie “Das Superweib” and the
internationally award-winning TV-twopiece
“Opernball”. The author lives in Los
Angeles and Berlin.