The Problem Club

By Barry Pain

Book Overview

Once a month, twelve competitors gather over dinner to turn social ingenuity into a contest. Each meeting introduces a fresh "problem", and the members must test their solutions beyond the dining room before returning to defend their claims. Entrance fees form the prize, but victory depends on more than nerve: every account can be questioned, every loophole exposed and every apparent triumph subjected to formal judgement. Across London, ordinary social encounters become arenas for elaborate schemes. Conversations, wagers, disguises and uncertain identities provide the raw material for a linked cycle of humorous short stories in which deception is both method and sport. The competitors pursue challenges through restaurants, hotels, private houses, gardens and public transport, repeatedly discovering how easily appearances and conventions can be manipulated. Their rivalry supplies the momentum, while their recurring camaraderie gives each episode a place within the larger club chronicle. Club-room exchanges alternate with narrated exploits and careful adjudication, allowing bold assertions to collide with sceptical interrogation. The episodic structure keeps the contests varied while preserving the pleasures of familiar personalities meeting again to compare tactics, dispute evidence and compete for recognition. Social performance becomes a game of invention, and even the most absurd proposal must survive the scrutiny of fellow schemers. This book was out of print for decades and is now republished by Alpha Editions. It has been restored for today's and future generations. This edition is not just a reprint - it's a collector's item and a cultural treasure.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 9377784484
• ISBN13: 9789377784485
• Release Date: December 2026
• Publisher: Alpha Edition
• Length: 82 Pages
• Weight: 0.27 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.2" x 6.0"