Stolen Kisses

-- In this collection of vintage love stories there are neither cell phones nor computers - but love letters that sometimes take weeks to reach their starry-eyed recipients. Suitors court their sweethearts, and gentlemen woo their ladies. Legendary German author Lady Courths-Mahler paints a portrait of magical romance, giving a glimpse into the life of beautiful damsels and handsome heroes. These "fairytales for adults” from the early 1900s have been revived from the vaults and appear now for the first time in English. Their tender charm will leave your heart singing for more. -- The author's story could have come from one of her novels. Born out-of-wedlock in 1867, Hedwig Courths Mahler was raised by various foster parents. She worked as a saleswoman in Leipzig while she wrote her first novels. Between 1905 and 1939, after marrying and giving birth to two daughters, she became a highly circulated author with her romance novels. As the Nazis refused to publish her work, Hedwig Courths-Mahler stopped writing in 1939. When her daughter was arrested by the Gestapo, the author suffered such great agony, she never wrote again. On November 26, 1950 Hedwig Courths Mahler died on her farm at Lake Tegern without witnessing the ensuing Renaissance of her novels in Germany.