Udo Hesselmann

Two young guys in a bar hit on the woman they fancy by sending one of them over who tells her that the other one is terminally ill...

The main protagonists are four – later five – girls: Sprotte (Charlotte), who is the spunky yet friendly main narrator, her best friend Frieda, a level-headed girl who is a member of Terre des hommes, shy and bespectacled Trude, who is unsure because of her obesity, and her best friend, the beautiful, shallow and vain, yet amicable Melanie. Later, they are joined by Wilma, a tough boys-hating tomboy, who is later revealed as a lesbian.

The story opens with Bica, a solvent abusing waif, trying in vain to evade the Romanian police with her infant brother in tow. Separated from her sibling she is taken to Germany, concealed in the trunk of a car. There she is trained as a thief, picking the pockets of strangers to fill those of her patron. One of her victims is the separated father of Milka, a brat with razor sharp tongue. From this unlikely start a friendship forms and Bica gets a glimpse into a world of material security, if not emotional closeness...