Set during the heady, pre-Second World War days of cabaret-era Germany, the novel centres on Sibylle - a stunning seductress who balances her love affairs with five men at once - and Friedrich, the callow, melancholic youth who obsessively pursues her. Originally banned by the Nazis for its frank sexual themes, Wolfgang Koeppen's first novel is appearing in English. A romance that anticipated Beat literature by nearly twenty years through its dizzying language and exploration of casual love, this is Koeppen's most autobiographical and amusing work.