In his new book "Melody" (to be published on March 22), the Swiss bestselling author Martin Suter (75) deals with lifelong melancholy after a lost love. He has a better hand than his main character himself: he has been with his wife Margrith for almost 45 years.

The secret of such a long love? "I'm still figuring that out," Suter told the German Press Agency. "Life is actually too short to really get to know yourself, including yourself."

His advice: You have to make a decision, even in love. "If you keep thinking, maybe I should do this, or maybe there's a nicer house, a better island, another woman - then you're missing out. Fortunately, I realized pretty early on that you're missing out on billions of things every second , so one thing more or less doesn't matter. Let's make up our minds and try not to miss at least one thing, in the field of love and elsewhere."