Chaperoned - Tapa blanda

When an old friend invites her to help renovate a bar in a posh resort town, single gal Christine immediately agrees, anticipating two blissful weeks of sun, cocktails, and gorgeous men. Her excitement is short-lived, however, thanks in no small part to her overbearing mother and one heavy-handed guilt trip. Now, for the first time in nearly thirty years, Christine and her best friend Dorothea find themselves saddled with an unexpected chaperone: Christine’s father, Heinz.

The trip is a catastrophe from the get-go. For starters, Heinz insists on taking charge of the bar’s overhaul. And when he learns that the locals are hunting for an escaped con artist, he promptly joins the investigation. At the top of his suspect list? Johann, the handsome, mysterious traveler who makes Christine go weak at the knees. But just when she thinks she can’t take one more day of his “father knows best” routine, Christine makes a poignant realization that will forever change the way she looks at Heinz.

Sparkling with humor, this delightful novel, which spent over one hundred weeks on Germany’s bestseller list, captures the unique—and occasionally exasperating—bond between fathers and daughters.

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. Chaperoned was one of Germany’s bestselling titles of 2008, spending sixty-two weeks on the hardcover bestseller list and sixty-five weeks on the paperback bestseller list. Heldt is also the author of Life After Forty and Inseparable, and her books have sold more than 2.5 million copies in Germany. She lives today in Hamburg.

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 cofounder 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.