Wednesday Club, The.jpg

Kjell Westö

Translated from the Finnish by Neil Smith

Trade paperback - Demy - 352p - £13.99 - 05/05/2016 - 9780857053510


1938. Hitler's expansionist policies are arousing both anger and admiration, not least in Helsinki's Wednesday Club. The members of this relaxed gentleman's club are old friends of lawyer Claes Thune. But this year it is apparent that the political unrest in Europe is having an effect on the cohesion of the group.

Thune has recently divorced and is at something of a loss, running his law practice with no great enthusiasm. Luckily he has the assistance of an efficient new secretary, Matilda Wiik.

But behind her polished exterior Mrs Wiik is tormented by memories of the Finnish Civil War, when she experienced horrors she has been trying to forget ever since. And one evening, with the Wednesday Club gathered in Thune's office, she hears a voice she hoped she would never hear again.

She is suddenly plunged back into the past. But this time she is no longer a helpless victim . . .


"An extremely impressive achievement" Svenska Dagbladet

"A well-constructed, taut narrative that feels fresh, and as tense as a thriller. He has created a story that reaches out through time and space, but in which every component works towards the tragic, vaguely foreshadowed yet still unexpected climax" Hufvudstadsbladet

"Extremely focused and tense: Westö has turned his talent for balanced, attractive storytelling to a sharper, snappier form of crime-writing" Norrbottens Kurir

"The Nordic region's most important interpreter of the grand themes of our political history, and how they have affected people's lives and thoughts" Sveriges Radio

"The Wednesday Club is a tense, gripping thriller . . .  a book one cannot put down or easily forget" MIKA PROVATA-CARLONE, Bookanista

Elise Williams