Ferdinand, the Man with the Kind Heart: Irmgard Keun

`I don`t think I`m that unusual, and I don`t think I`m crazy either`

Bombed-out Cologne after the war is a strange place to be. The black market in jam and corsets is booming, half-destroyed houses offer opportunities for stealing doors and eggcups, and de-Nazification parties are all the rage. Ferdinand - daydreamer, former prisoner of war, wearer of a curious jerkin - drifts around the city, observing life`s absurdities, strenuously avoiding his fiancee and drinking brandy with his fabulous cousin. When he gets a job as a `cheerful adviser` to those down on their luck, will Ferdinand`s fortunes change too?
Irmgard Keun`s exuberantly funny and touching final novel takes the tiny moments of triumph and defeat in one man`s life, and turns them into a moving portrait of the human spirit.