Audiobook · read by volunteers
Club of Queer Trades
G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936)
Read by David Barnes · 6 chapters · 4 h 48
About the book
Basil Grant is a former judge with a mystical streak, and in these stories he leads us to the Club of Queer Trades, an extraordinary society whose members have each invented a profession that no one has ever practised before. In six stories, G. K. Chesterton shows how a seemingly strange crime or a bewildering encounter can have an unexpected and ingenious explanation. The tone is playful, the dialogue sparkling, and the paradoxes dazzling. Beginning with The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown, the collection offers almost five hours of puzzles and wit. It is perfect for lovers of detective fiction who enjoy a good laugh with their riddles. Six stories, six surprises and one very queer club, with plenty of laughter and a few paradoxes to ponder on the way.
Introduction
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936) was an English writer, critic and journalist, famous for his Father Brown detective stories as well as for essays, poetry and novels. The Club of Queer Trades was published in 1905, and it shows his gift for combining mystery with comedy. London, with its streets and squares, is the main setting, transformed by Chesterton’s imagination into a place of wonder.
The six stories share a pattern, since each begins with a puzzling situation and ends with a surprising revelation. Titles such as The Painful Fall of a Great Reputation and The Awful Reason of the Vicar’s Visit hint at the mock-solemn tone. Chesterton uses the detective form to explore larger ideas about eccentricity, the poetry of everyday life and the dangers of rigid thinking. The result is a collection that entertains and also invites reflection.
The stories are best enjoyed one at a time, with a little pause for reflection. Their cleverness comes from the sudden turn at the end, and their humour from the language along the way.
Six recordings, about 4.8 hours in all, one for each story, are read by a single LibriVox volunteer. After The Tremendous Adventures of Major Brown comes a run of titles that sound like complaints and read like jokes, from The Singular Speculation of the House-Agent to The Eccentric Seclusion of the Old Lady, and each one hides a trade that nobody had thought of before. Chesterton’s London is part of the fun: its streets and squares become the scene of the improbable, and the paradox, his favourite weapon, is always waiting round the corner.
Public domain
G. K. Chesterton died in 1936: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text