In 1937, German author Irmgard Keun had only recently fled Nazi Germany with her lover Joseph Roth when she wrote this slim, exquisite and devastating book. It captures the unbearable tension, contradictions and hysteria of pre-war Germany like no other novel. Yet, even as it exposes human folly, After Midnight exudes a hopeful humanism. Full of humour and light, even as it describes the first moments of a nightmare, After Midnight is a masterpiece that deserves to be read and remembered anew.