Wimmlingen at Night - The latest marvel from Rotraut Susanne BernerRotraut Susanne Berner's Wimmlingen at NightNighttime in Wimmlingen: Humans and animals are sleeping. Most of them, that is. Andrea, for one, cannot sleep because Thomas, who lives on the next floor, is taking a shower. Nico, on the other hand, is fast asleep in his cage, in the dark under its cloth cover. Outside, bats are flitting about, and a hedgehog shuffles through the grass. There's an all-night reading marathon taking place at the Public Library, and in the upper floor, the terrariums of the reptile exposition emit a greenish glow. At the station the night train is ready for departure. Even though not all that many people are about at night, yet there is a lot going on in this warm summer night. Under cover of darkness, a burglar breaks into a dentist's surgery. Will he make his escape undetected? A night-watchman and his dog are on their round patrolling the local department store. Yet the highlight and concluding episode of this particular adventure must surely be the big festival in the municipal park, complete with fireworks. As in her four previous books set in Wimmlingen, Rotraut Susanne Berner has once more come up with a cornucopia of little stories, rich in well-observed detail, an atmospheric nocturne that will make for splendid bedtime reading, for big and small alike.