These are vignettes of the lives of people before they became famous, or, in some cases, notorious. There was only one that I could not identify, but the historical circumstances of his life soon became very obvious and it was fun guessing. It is strange meeting these people before they became the people known to history - but that's what makes this reading this book so fascinating.
The smell of cooking meat drifts from the kitchen, a rare treat. In ones and twos the men leave, until only himself and Hanisch remain. Hanisch the betrayer, Hanisch the self-proclaimed salesman who promised so much, so smoothly, and has the affront to blame the artist when he failed.
'Waste of paint,' Hanisch winks at him from across the room.
'You'll get what's coming to you' the artist hisses into his shirt.
