‘Uplit’: the feelgood literature we need right now

Ali Berg and Michelle Kalus have been best friends for so long, it’s almost as if they are each other’s clone. 

The Melbourne-based Jewish creative duo met when they were just five-years-old, and their three decade friendship has since spanned travel, marriage, children – and a professional partnership that has seen them launch an acclaimed social initiative and co-author four novels. 

Their latest book, Love Overdue, was released last month and follows vice principal Lauren Green who is reunited with her first great heartbreak, only to discover that he’s completely forgotten their love story. 

“When I read back on it, I can't tell which chapter I've written or which one Ali's written,” Kalus told The Jewish Independent. “It's a voice that has developed over time; it’s partway between our original voices, with a new seamless tone that has both of us very much in it.” 

The content of their new book is just as personal. References to Jewish culture are infused throughout, from a smattering of Yiddish to a scene depicting a menorah lighting and even a reference to Glicks Bakery.  

“I really had to throw the word farshtunken in there, which is one of my favourites that my Zayde says all the time. It’s very close to home, this book,” Berg, who also works as a copywriter, explained. 

Protagonist Lauren, who is Jewish, works at North Caulfield Primary School – a setting in Melbourne's Bagel Belt that is especially familiar to Kalus, who is a primary school teacher herself.