1930s Berlin is a realm of glamour and sleaze, excess and repression. Having moved to the city to work on his novel, Christopher finds himself immersed in a world of contradiction. He becomes enamoured with the local denizens and the colourful lives they lead, meeting an English upper-class waif, the delightfully decadent Sally Bowles; a couple – Peter and Otto – who are struggling with their sexual identities; and a distinguished and doomed Jewish family, the Landauers. With the Nazis rising to power, Christopher’s Berlin is a sparkling city perched on the edge of an abyss. ‘Isherwood is a master’ Evening Standard ‘Brilliant sketches of a society in decay’ George Orwell ‘Reading this novel is much like overhearing anecdotes in a crowded bar while history knocks impatiently at the windows’ Guardian