Martina Borger and Maria Elisabeth Straub Katzenzungen (Cats' Tongues) Diogenes Verlag, September 2001. 355pp. ISBN 3-257-06278-8 Dodo, Claire and Nora, now in their early forties, grew up together in Pinneberg, Northern Germany. Although they now live far apart and lead very different lives, they have been going on annual trips together for ten years. This time they have chosen Bruges. Dido, a single mother, lives in Cologne. Vivacious, impulsive, always short of money but never of a boyfriend, she stumbles from one career crisis to the next. Claire, a beautiful and successful owner of an art gallery in Munich, is divorced but seems to have it all: looks, money, talent. Nora is the only one who has remained in Pinneberg. Married to Achim, a successful lawyer, she has two children and mainly stays at home. But each woman has her own secrets. Why is Nora so convinced that this will be their last trip together, and why is she all forced jollity? Who is the father of Dodo's ten-year-old daughter Fiona? Why is Claire popping tranquillisers to get through the day, and what was it about her childhood which has prevented her from ever forming close relationships with men? And who was the hit-and-run driver who killed Dodo's arthritic mother as she tried to cross the street? Told in a light-hearted way through the eyes of each woman in turn, the twists and turns of their friendship are gradually revealed. It all began with a sleepover party for Dodo's eleventh birthday. As they each remember incidents from their joint past, with chocolate cats' tongues melting in their mouths once again, a complex triangular relationship emerges, of friendship, divided loyalties, secrets and betrayal. Jealousies festered, to surface many years later in acts of revenge. Secrets were known to two, but not three. At a catastrophic dinner in a grand Bruges restaurant, all is finally revealed - in vino veritas. A complex and convincing page-turner of notably wide appeal. How does anyone ever really know the truth about anyone else? Each of us is alone - for always.