On a train to Berlin in late 1930, William Bradshaw locks eyes with Arthur Norris, an irresistibly comical fellow Englishman wearing a rather obvious wig and nervous about producing his passport at the frontier. So begins a friendship conducted in the seedier quarters of the city, where Norris runs a dubious import-export business and lives in excited fear of his bullying secretary, his creditors, and his dominatrix girlfriend, Anni. As the worldwide economic Depression strangles the masses and the Communists make a desperate stand against Fascism and war, Norris sells himself as political orator, spy, and double agent. He also sells his friends. Like its companion novel, Goodbye to Berlin, Mr Norris Changes Trains offers unforgettable characters struggling in the vortex as the Nazis rise to power
I have a bunch of audio books narrated by Alan Cumming, and I have to say that Mr. Norris Changes Trains and Goodbye To Berlin are the two best I ever heard. Maybe it's because that Alan was the Emcee in the musical Cabaret, for which these two books lent inspiration to. But for whatever reason, Alan brings you into the magical world of divine decadence in pre-war Berlin with Arthur Norris, the ideal of an enigma; Fraulein Schroeder, the chatty, light and amusing landlady; Otto and Anni, the next generation of Germans; and of course the narrator Chris. Alan knows what he's reading and because of his divine comprehension, he makes the recording sound so much more fun and enjoyable to listen to!
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