Goodbye to Berlin - Christopher Isherwood

Sally Bowles, for whom life is a cabaret old chum, is the one we all know, but Isherwood's brilliant series of interlinked stories describes a range of Berlin characters during the rise of Nazism. Gradually the character sketches recede as the political climate becomes more threatening.

Perhaps because it was written in 1939, before the full horrors of Hitler's policies became apparent, the narrator is able to maintain a coolly detached tone, only occasionally allowing his fears and sadness to show.

The description of sex is also very much of its time. The sexuality of the protagonists clearly ranges across the spectrum of human experience, but direct reference to gay relationships is avoided, presumably to avoid censorship. There would be years to wait until the Chatterley trial finally ended book censorship in the UK.