Summary of The Wednesday Club
Set in Helsinki in 1938, “The Wednesday Club” follows lawyer Claes Thune, whose wife Gabi has recently left him, and who runs his law office with dwindling enthusiasm. As a liberal, Thune grows increasingly disturbed by the anti-Semitic and Nazi-sympathising remarks of his friends and colleagues. This tension is also reflected in the Wednesday Club, a discussion group he founded with five friends, which gradually divides into a right-wing and a democratic faction. Matters become more complicated when Matilda, Thune’s new secretary, arrives. During a meeting of the Wednesday Club in Thune’s office, she overhears a familiar voice that triggers traumatic memories from her time in a prison camp during the Finnish Civil War of 1918. The identity of the voice is revealed only at the novel’s conclusion…
Reasons to read The Wednesday Club
“The Wednesday Club” is a compelling read, for its portrayal of the tense atmosphere in Helsinki on the eve of the Second World War and for its insights in early-20th-century Finnish history, in particular the Finnish Civil War. The novel combines historical drama with a crime narrative. Finnish author Kjell Westö, who writes in Swedish, received the Nordic Council Literature Prize for “The Wednesday Club” and the Finlandia Prize for his novel “Where Once We Walked”. “The Wednesday Club” has also been published as “Mirage 38”.
Setting: Helsinki (Finland)
Book set in Finland: Helsinki (the lawyer’s office is at Kasarmitori / Kaserntorget Square in the Kaartinkaupunki / Gardesstaden district)
Original title: Hägring 38
Year of publication: 2013
Nr of pages: 352
