Alexandra Cordes

Alexandra Cordes ( pseudonym for Ursula Schaake , married Ursula Horbach , other pseudonyms: Christa Bach , Jennifer Morgan ; born November 16, 1935 in Bonn ; † October 27, 1986 in Châteauneuf-du-Pape ) was a German writer .

Life

Ursula Schaake came from a Huguenot family and grew up with her two siblings in Bonn. After attending grammar school , she volunteered in the Times' Bonn office from 1954 . She worked as a correspondent for various German newspapers, a. a. Die Welt and Hamburger Abendblatt . In 1958 she married the journalist Michael Horbach , who inspired her to write novels . Ursula Horbach's narrative works, which have appeared mainly under the pseudonym Alexandra Cordes since the 1970s and which literary critics dismissed as trivial literature , were often first published as serial novels in magazines such as Bunte and Revue , and then in book editions. With the trilogy Say Goodbye , Leave Before the Last Dance and Never Ask After The End , a family saga based on her grandmother's tape recordings, Cordes achieved her greatest success. The total circulation of her works was more than 15 million copies sold in the mid-1980s, making her one of the most successful German authors of her time.

In the mid-1970s, the Horbach couple moved to Provence , where they lived on a spacious estate in Châteauneuf-du-Pape. Michael Horbach shot his wife Alexandra Cordes with a revolver from his weapons collection on the night of October 27, 1986. A few hours later he turned the gun on himself and died a few days later as a result of being shot in the head.

Works

• The disenchanted children , Bayreuth 1963 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• My black sister , Munich 1963 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Love that began too early , Munich 1964 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Siblings of Sin , Munich 1966 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Meeting in the night , Bergisch Gladbach 1967 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Happiness is like glass , Bergisch Gladbach 1967 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Take a handful of stars , Bergisch Gladbach 1968 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Your bitter love , Bergisch Gladbach 1969 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• After all these years , Bergisch Gladbach 1969 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Twelve days in August , Bayreuth 1969 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• The night of the cats , Munich [u. a.] 1970
• Saat der Sünde , Munich 1970 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• And outside the jacaranda tree blooms , Munich [u. a.] 1970
• Mata Mata , Bayreuth 1971 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
  • New edition as: Wilde Freunde , Munich 1977 (now under the name Alexandra Cordes)
• A dead person doesn't want to die , Munich 1974
• When the kites fly , Munich 1974
• Say goodbye to me , Munich 1975
• Go before the last dance , Munich 1976
• The house in the Marulabaum , Munich 1977
• Forget me, Marion , Munich 1977 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Bittersweet years , Munich 1978 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• The Bush doctor , Munich 1978
• Never ask about the end , Munich 1978
• House of Dreams , Munich 1978
• The other side of longing , Klagenfurt 1978
• And outside the wind sang , Munich 1978
• The other's child , Munich 1979
• A smile in autumn , Munich 1979
• The song of love and death , Munich 1979
• The day after the honeymoon , Munich 1980
• The angel with the black wings , Munich 1980
• A woman with a past , Munich 1980 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Dangerous love , Munich 1980
• I want to be alone with you , Munich 1980
• Love knows no years , Munich 1980
• Nights of Longing , Munich 1980
• Anna Maria , Munich 1981
• On the way into the night , Munich 1981
• Dark night, bright day , Munich 1981
• The song of love and hate , Munich 1981 (together with Michael Horbach )
• Errweg einer Liebe , Munich 1981 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Longing is more than a dream , Munich 1981
• The Embrace , Munich 1981
• The second woman , Munich 1981
• One day last summer , Munich 1982 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• The sweet side of life , Munich 1982
• The seven sins , Munich 1982
• Playing with fire , Munich 1982 (under the name Ursula Schaake)
• Dream of Tears , Munich 1982
• The cloudless window , Munich 1982
• Paradise on your lips , Munich 1983 (together with Michael Horbach )
• I saw three stars shine , Munich 1983
• One more time home , Munich 1983
• Love under strange roofs , Munich 1983
• The Night of Temptation , Munich 1983
• Psychiatrist Dr. R. Meeting point at the Hansa Hotel , Munich 1983
• Attorney Dr. M. , Munich 1983
• Traces in the desert , Munich 1983
• The magic child , Munich 1983
• Porcelain dogs , Munich 1984
• The year after , Munich 1984
• Strange ways of longing , Munich 1984
• Dream of eternal youth , Munich 1984
• The dream castle , Munich 1984
• At the end of all flight , Munich 1985
• The third life , Munich 1985
• Heimat , Munich [u. a.] 1985 (together with Michael Horbach )
• Lorna and the great adventure , Munich 1985
• The man from abroad , Munich 1985
• The bush pilot , Munich 1986
• The hotel detective , Munich 1986
• The Lady , Munich 1986
• Eiko , Munich 1987

Editing

• The most beautiful Christmas stories in the world , Munich 1977

literature

• Erich Schaake: To love and die in Provence. The story of Alexandra Cordes . LangenMüller, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-7844-3018-X .

Web links

• Literature by and about Alexandra Cordes in the catalog of the German National Library
• Biography in the portal Rheinische Geschichte