{"title":"Michael Kumpfmuller","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"adventures-of-a-bed-salesman-book-michael-kumpfmuller-9780297607557","title":"The Adventures of a Bed Salesman","description":"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 Kumpmuller's voice: rhythmic, absorbing, fresh and new.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49628762145041,"sku":"GOR006137715","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50331321008401,"sku":"GOR013930041","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50812050735377,"sku":"GOR005309407","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0297607553.jpg?v=1751195866"},{"product_id":"hampelsfluchten-book-michael-kumpfmuller-9783462029277","title":"Hampelsfluchten","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49637476303121,"sku":"GOR012840700","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/3462029274.jpg?v=1751382820"},{"product_id":"glory-of-life-book-michael-kumpfmuller-9781908323545","title":"The Glory of Life","description":"The aftermath of Franz Kafka's love affair with Dora Diamant is legend: refusing to honor his instructions to destroy his work when he died, Diamant saved Kafka's writings and letters that were in her possession. These were later taken by the Nazis and are still being sought today. Her importance for Kafka's literary legacy makes their all-too-brief relationship even more intriguing. Set over the course of his last year, The Glory of Life is compelling fictional re-imagining of this fragile, tender romance.   In July 1923, Kafka is convalescing by the Baltic Sea when he meets Diamant and they fall in love. He is forty years old and dying of tuberculosis; she is twenty-five and seems to him the essence of life. After a tentative first meeting, the indecisive Kafka moves with Diamant to Berlin, a city in the throes of political upheaval, rising anti-Semitism, and the turmoil of Weimar-era hyperinflation. As his tuberculosis advances, they are forced to leave the city for the Kierling Sanatorium near Vienna, a move that threatens the paradise they have created.   The first of Kumpfmüller's novels to appear in English after his acclaimed The Adventures of a Bed Salesman, The Glory of Life is a meticulously researched and poignant portrait of one of the most enduring authors in world literature. Beautifully crafted, this book is an evocative rumination on the power of love and friendship.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50242894954769,"sku":"GOR013896357","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50555324465425,"sku":"GOR013996073","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":53516675186961,"sku":"GOR007539760","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/190832354X.jpg?v=1750867911"},{"product_id":"die-herrlichkeit-des-lebens-book-michael-kumpfmuller-9783596193608","title":"Die Herrlichkeit des Lebens","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51381237154065,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51381237186833,"sku":"GOR005320390","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/3596193605.jpg?v=1751383226"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-michael-kumpfmuller.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}