"What Else Is Normal at My Age?" (German premiere)

Reading and moderated conversation

"What else is normal at my age?" - a question many people ask themselves. Is 50 the new 40? And 60 the new 50? Will we soon be retiring at 70 (which, in a way, would be early, since 70 is supposedly the new 60)? And might a new honeymoon be waiting in later life? Or what else could become "normal"?

These questions have very real, practical consequences: what if physical intimacy has been absent for years? If you still refuse to accept that and want to take the leap and start over? And what if the marriage actually falls apart when you're already past 60? Wencke Mühleisen tells the story of a woman in her sixties who has to rebuild her life from scratch, and she speaks about sex and desire with refreshing candour - words that refuse to settle for "what's normal".

"I'm with Marie," Erika's husband announces on the last evening of a holiday in Italy, just as she is about to suggest opening up their relationship. The narrator has long been missing sex and intimacy in her long marriage and hoped that an open relationship might bring new sexual and personal energy. Instead, she learns that her husband has already been getting all of that from a woman fifteen years younger - Marie.

The confession hits Erika completely off guard and her world collapses. But only briefly. Soon, questions begin to stir in her above all else. What options does a middle-aged woman have after a long marriage? And is her urgent longing for desire and closeness at this stage of life something to worry about? Wencke Mühleisen writes with nuance and hard-won wisdom about a woman who discovers that it is never too late to approach love entirely anew.

In her book, the author explores...