The adventures of a bed salesman - Michael Kumpfmller

Heinrich Hampel is a lovable rogue. His creed is: 'There are bed salesmen who succeed because they understand beds, and there are bed salesman who succeed because they understand women. The future belongs to the latter.? Heinrich charms his way into the hearts, beds and purses of his female customers in Bavaria in the 1950s. Having persuaded them to buy the best French beds, bedding and silk sheets, Heinrich proceeds to test the quality of his goods with them personally, in their homes or even in the twilight shadows of the showroom. Turnover doubles.

The long-suffering Rosa, a shoe-shop assistant elevated to Hausfrau status by a shotgun marriage to Heinrich, can tell from a glance at rumpled sheets if business or love is at hand. When Bella enters the scene, Rosa begins to worry. Heinrich buys Bella a plush riverside apartment and silences Rosa with a new Opel Kadett. These are the years of the postwar economic miracle, nothing can go wrong. But everything does, and Heinrich finds himself in crippling debt. In 1962, Heinrich crosses the border to East Germany, hoping to find a haven from his family and the evils of capitalism. His wife and children turn up like bad pennies, but Heinrich is incorrigible, and the carousel starts again.

This is a classic picaresque novel written with a flair for story-telling that is both beautifully old-fashioned yet modern in its use of irony. Blackly humorous and poignant by turn, the novel showcases Kumpm?ller?s voice: rhythmic, absorbing, fresh and new.