Mother Night

Vonnegut’s chilling early masterpiece * Observer *Mother Night is not one of his most famous books, but it’s one of the best * Washington Post *A brilliant wacky ideas-monger * Observer *Everyone should read Vonnegut – Tim MinchinA cool writer, at once throwaway and passionate and very funny * Financial Times *One of the master alchemists of modern American fiction * Sunday Times *A laughing prophet of doom * New York Times *Vonnegut saw the worst excesses of humanity during the bombing of Dresden, but then spent the rest of his life writing with a mixture of exasperation and hope about the foibles of humanity. – Robin Ince * Guardian *One of the best living American writers – Graham Greene

Kurt Vonnegut was born in Indianapolis in 1922 and studied biochemistry at Cornell University. An army intelligence scout during the Second World War, he was captured by the Germans and witnessed the destruction of Dresden by Allied bombers, an experience which inspired his classic novel Slaughterhouse-Five. After the war he worked as a police reporter, an advertising copywriter and a public relations man for General Electric. His first novel Player Piano (1952) achieved underground success. Cat’s Cradle (1963) was hailed by Graham Greene as ‘one of the best novels of the year by one of the ablest living authors’. His eighth book, Slaughterhouse-Five was published in 1969 and was a literary and commercial success, and was made into a film in 1972. Vonnegut is the author of thirteen other novels, three collections of stories and five non-fiction books. Kurt Vonnegut died in 2007.