Little man, what now? / by Hans Fallada.

Prelude: Young hearts : 1. Pinneberg finds out something new about Bunny and makes a great decision -- 2. Mother Mörschel. Herr Mörschel. Karl Mörschel. Pinneberg meets the family -- 3. A little conversation at night about love and money --

Part one: The little town : 1. Marriage begins correctly with a wedding-trip but — do we need a saucepan? -- 2. Pinneberg grows mysterious and Bunny has some riddles to solve -- 3. The Pinnebergs pay a courtesy call -- 4. Bergmann and Kleinholz, and why Pinneberg must not be married -- 5. The master of the Pinneberg destiny -- 6. Lauterbach the Nazi, the demonic Schulz, and the husband-in-secret get into difficulties -- 7. Pea soup is prepared and a letter written; but the water is too thin -- 8. A pact is sworn. Still no pea soup -- 9. A Pinneberg excursion arouses interest in certain quarters -- 10. How Pinneberg strove with the Angel and with Marie Kleinholz and how it was too late -- 11. Herr Friedrichs, the smoked salmon, and Herr Bergmann -- 12. Bunny (in her apron) makes a call on her husband --

Part two: Berlin : 1. Introducing Frau Mia Pinneberg -- 2. An imperial French bed and Herr Jachmann -- 3. Simultaneous acquisition of a job and a father -- 4. A despondent walk through the little Tiergarten -- 5. A salesman (with the assistance of Herr Heilbutt) is born -- 6. Pinneberg gets his pay, behaves badly to a salesman and becomes the possessor of a dressing-table -- 7. Bunny receives a visitor and views herself in the glass -- 8. Some Pinneberg conjugal customs. Mother and son. Jachmann again to the rescue -- 9. Why the Pinnebergs will have to move -- 10. Happy consequences of a fainting-fit -- 11. Odd lodgings. Appearance of Master Puttbreese. Reappearance of Herr Jachmann -- 12. The pros and cons of a normal budget -- 13. Heilbutt thinks we have courage. But have we? -- 14. Suppose I never see her again -- 15. How babies are made -- 16. Pinneberg pays a visit and lets himself be tempted towards nudism -- 17. What Pinneberg thought about nudism and what Frau Nothnagel thought about it -- 18. Pinneberg's first deception of Bunny -- 19. Children are born to the Lords of Creation, and Bunny embraces Puttbreese -- 20. The baby-carriage, the two hostile brethren and the Confinement Grant -- 21. Disappearance of a tower of strength -- 22. Jahmann sees ghosts. Rum without tea -- 23. Jachmann discovers the wholesome thigns of life -- 24. Jachmann as discoverer and the little man as king -- 25. The movies and life. Uncle Knilli abducts Jachmann -- 26. The baby is ill. What can be the trouble? -- 27. The inquisitors and Fräulein Fischer. Another reprieve, Pinneberg! -- 28. Frau Mia again -- 29. The jig is up --

Epilogue: Continuation : 1. Should you steal wood? Bunny earns a great deal and gives her husband something to do -- 2. Man as woman. A matter of six marks -- 3. Why the Pinnebergs do not live at home. Joachim Heilbutt's Photograph Agency. Surprising news about Lehmann -- 4. How Pinneberg started it all. The forgotten butter and the policeman -- 5. A visitor in a taxi. Two sit waiting in the night. No chance with Bunny -- 6. A mysterious bush.

"This is the book that led to Hans Fallada’s downfall with the Nazis. The story of a young couple struggling to survive the German economic collapse was a worldwide sensation and was made into an acclaimed Hollywood movie produced by Jews, leading Hitler to ban Fallada’s work from being translated. Written just before the Nazis came to power, this darkly enchanting novel tells the simple story of a young couple trying to eke out a devent life amidst an economic crisis that’s transforming their country into a place of anger and despair. It was an international bestseller upon its release, and made into a Hollywood movie—by Jewish producers, which prompted the rising Nazis to begin paying ominously close attention to Hans Fallada, even as his novels held out stirring hope for the human spirit." -- online

"After Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933, Fallada had to make a few changes to the novel that removed anything that showed the Nazis in a bad light: a Sturmabteilung (SA) thug had to be turned into a soccer thug, for example, and the book stayed in print through 1941 after which paper shortages curtailed the printing of novels." -- online

"Fallada gives a detailed description of the living conditions of the white-collar workers of the time. He also shows the roles of trade unions, governmental institutions, and sacking in the labor market, while also highlighting the benefits of Germany's social care system which pays unemployment benefits for a while, takes care of the medical bills when baby Horst is born, and pays Emma so that she doesn't have to work in the weeks before and after giving birth. Businesses are shown to exploit and pit people of the same class against each other, and reveal everyone's worst side." -- online

Translated from the German into English.