Hans Fallada was one of the most remarkable writers of the twentieth century. He led a contradictory, flawed and fascinating life, saw the worst of humanity, yet maintained his belief in the decency of the ‘little man’. His biographer Jenny Williams chronicles his turbulent life as a writer, husband and father, shadowed by mental torment and long periods in psychiatric care. She shows how his decision to remain in Nazi Germany in 1939 led to his self-destruction, but also made him a unique witness to his country’s turmoil. His Alone in Berlin was a recent bestseller.