Gilgi, one of us - Irmgard Keun

Gilgi is a secretary in a hosiery firm, but she's not going to stay there for long: she's disciplined and ambitious. But then she falls in love with Martin, a wealthy businessman, and leaves her job for domestic bliss - which turns out to be not that blissful, and Gilgi finds herself a single mother. Revolutionary at the time for its treatment of sexual harassment, abortion, single motherhood and the concept of the 'New Woman', Gilgi remains a perceptive and beautifully constructed novel about one woman's path to maturity.