The Club

As a boy, Hans Stichler enjoys a fable-like childhood among the rolling hills and forests of North Germany, living an idyll that seems uninterruptable―until two disasters change his life forever. He falls into the guardianship of his eccentric English aunt Alex, who invites him to come to university at Cambridge, where she teaches art history.

Alex will ensure his application to St. John’s College is accepted, but in return Hans must help her investigate a secretive Cambridge institution known as the Pitt Club. The Club has existed at Cambridge for centuries, its long legacy of tradition, privilege, and decadence largely unquestioned. As Hans makes his best efforts to prove Club material, including training for the university boxing team, he is drawn into a glamorous world of debauchery and macho solidarity. And when he falls in love with fellow student Charlotte, the stakes of his deception are raised. For there are dark secrets in the Club’s history, as well as in its present―and Hans soon finds himself in the inner sanctum of an dangerous institution, forced to grapple with the notion that sometimes one must do wrong to do right.

A provocative and timely novel from a highly regarded young writer, The Club is an invitation into a world behind closed doors, one of long-held secrets, hallowed history, and toxic behavior.

Takis Würger is a reporter working for the German news magazine Der Spiegel. He studied Human, Social, and Political Science at St. John’s College Cambridge for a year before dropping out. During this time, he boxed for the University, broke two ribs and his hand, and became a member of the Adonians, the Hawks’ Club, and the Pitt Club. Named one of Medium’s “Top 30 Journalists under 30,” alongside other accolades, Würger’s work as a journalist has taken him to Afghanistan, Libya, Mexico, and Ukraine. The Club, which won the lit.Cologne debut prize and has become a runaway bestseller in Germany, is his first novel.

Charlotte Collins studied English at Cambridge University. She worked as an actor and radio journalist in both Germany and the U.K. before becoming a literary translator. She is best known for her translation of International Booker shortlisted Robert Seethaler's A Whole Life and was the recipient of the Helen & Kurt Wolff's Translator's Prize in 2017. She lives in London.