Jeeves and the King of Clubs: A Novel in Homage to P.G. Wodehouse

by Ben Schott

Overview

What ho! A new Jeeves and Wooster novel that is "impossible to read without grinning idiotically" (Evening Standard), penned in homage to P.G. Wodehouse by bestselling author Ben Schott -- in which literature's favorite master and servant become spies for the English Crown.

The misadventures of Bertie Wooster and his incomparable personal gentleman, Jeeves, have delighted audiences for nearly a century. Now bestselling author Ben Schott brings this odd couple back to life in a madcap new adventure full of the hijinks, entanglements, imbroglios, and Wodehousian wordplay that readers love.

In this latest uproarious adventure, the Junior Ganymede Club (an association of England's finest butlers and valets) is revealed to be an elite arm of the British secret service. Jeeves must ferret out a Fascist spy embedded in the highest social circles, and only his hapless employer, Bertie, can help. Unfolding in the background are school-chum capers, affairs of the heart, antics with aunts, and sartorial set-tos.

Energized by Schott's effervescent prose, and fully authorized by the Wodehouse Estate, Jeeves and the King of Clubs is a delight for lifelong fans and the perfect introduction to two of fiction's most beloved comic characters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780316524599
Publisher:	Little, Brown and Company
Publication date:	11/12/2019
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	1,104,003
Product dimensions:	8.10(w) x 5.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Ben Schott is the New York Times and internationally bestselling author of Schott's Miscellany and the Schott's Almanac series. A graduate of Cambridge University, he enjoyed a career as a photographer before becoming a writer. He is a regular columnist for Bon Appetit, Inc., Playboy, and the New York Times, and a frequent contributor to many other outlets, including The Guardian, Vanity Fair, the Paris Review, and more. He lives in New York City.

Editorial Reviews

One of the Best Books of the Year (Town and Country)

"Schott is a wonderful, exacting mimic: Bertie Wooster and his valet, Jeeves, could almost be mistaken for themselves, their exchanges sparkling and unexpected, giving real verve to this joyful, loving, humble, and worthwhile homage."—USA Today

"P.G. Wodehouse wrote almost 100 novels in his lifetime, but his most indelible contributions to the literary canon are, inarguably, the characters of Bertie Wooster and Jeeves... They are resurrected by British writer Ben Schott... it would be impossible to perfectly capture Wodehouse's particular madhouse charm but Schott comes pretty darn close... a true delight to read"—Vanity Fair

"In Jeeves and the King of Clubs, a fizzy new homage to Wodehouse, Schott infuses Bertie with extra bounce, transforming him from sheer pleasure seeker to shrewd (sort of) secret agent--no wardrobe change necessary... What can explain this contemporary renaissance of the butler and the bachelor? ... It might signal a newfound appreciation of the power of Wodehouse's levity to combat--and outlast--moments in history when affairs have taken on 'a certain menacing trend,' as Jeeves once put it... The pages of Wodehouse contain an 'empire of comic writing on which the sun has never set'... in elevating Bertie Wooster as its staunchest defender, he burnishes the gleam."—New York Times Book Review

"Schott brings it all off in high and hilarious style. Best of all, his wordplay can hold its own with the Master's."—Booklist (starred review)

"Impressive... Schott comes up with Wodehouse caliber metaphors and otherwise expertly channels the master's voice... an essential volume for Wodehouse fans, rounded out with endnotes full of fun historical and literary facts."—Publishers Weekly

"A painstaking facsimile rendered in spun sugar... capable of true Wodehousian flights ... fans longing for more will welcome Schott's homage."—Kirkus

"Impossible to read without grinning idiotically."—Evening Standard (UK)

"[Schott's] sensitivity to the tics and cadences of his characters' speech and ways of being is uncannily acute, and full of the same freshness and resonance of perception as Wodehouse's own style... It vibrates with the spirit and rhythms of [Wodehouse's] heart."—Sunday Times (UK)

"A glorious procession of high jinks."—Sunday Times (UK)

"A smart, often hilarious caper that turns the duo into international spies and reminds us why Wodehouse's characters became beloved in the first place."—Town and Country

From the Publisher

In Jeeves and the King of Clubs, a fizzy new homage to Wodehouse, Schott infuses Bertie with extra bounce, transforming him from sheer pleasure seeker to shrewd (sort of) secret agent—no wardrobe change necessary…The pages of Wodehouse contain an "empire of comic writing on which the sun has never set," Schott writes. In elevating Bertie Wooster as its staunchest defender, he burnishes the gleam.

The New York Times Book Review - Liesl Schillinger

09/24/2018
Bertie Wooster and his gentleman’s gentleman, Jeeves, venture into spy thriller territory in this impressive homage, authorized by the Wodehouse estate, from Schott (Schott’s Original Miscellany). In The Code of the Woosters (1938), Bertie and Jeeves outwitted fascist demagogue Roderick Spode, leader of the Black Shorts. Now, officials of the British government suspect Spode is in cahoots with hostile foreign powers and enlist Bertie and Jeeves in an effort to thwart his schemes. Along the way, Bertie visits Brinkley Court, where he must impersonate Aunt Dahlia’s chef, Anatole, and Jeeves reveals much new information about the operations of the Junior Ganymede Club, whose members are butlers and valets. Schott comes up with Wodehouse caliber metaphors (“she has a profile that, if not a thousand ships, certainly propelled a punt or two down the Cherwell”) and otherwise expertly channels the master’s voice, but some readers will wish that he had gone deeper into the nature of Spode’s treachery. Nonetheless, this is an essential volume for Wodehouse fans, rounded out with endnotes full of fun historical and literary facts. Agent: Natasha Fairweather, Rogers, Coleridge & White. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

Narrator James Lance makes a jolly good show of this second novel commissioned by the P.G. Wodehouse estate. The plot has our man Jeeves and his gentleman, Bertie Wooster, engaged by a Lord MacAuslan to undertake a spot of counterespionage against the fascist-loving Roderick Spode, another Wodehouse creation. Joining these four as the audiobook’s core characters are Bertie’s Auntie Dahlia, former fiancées Florence and Madeline, lovelorn friend Montague Montgomery, and MacAuslan’s niece, Iona. Lance brings each character lithely to life. It would be dashed unsporting if Wodehouse purists were to quibble with Ben Schott’s story or Lance’s performance, as both are simply topping. K.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile

Narrator James Lance makes a jolly good show of this second novel commissioned by the P.G. Wodehouse estate. The plot has our man Jeeves and his gentleman, Bertie Wooster, engaged by a Lord MacAuslan to undertake a spot of counterespionage against the fascist-loving Roderick Spode, another Wodehouse creation. Joining these four as the audiobook’s core characters are Bertie’s Auntie Dahlia, former fiancées Florence and Madeline, lovelorn friend Montague Montgomery, and MacAuslan’s niece, Iona. Lance brings each character lithely to life. It would be dashed unsporting if Wodehouse purists were to quibble with Ben Schott’s story or Lance’s performance, as both are simply topping. K.W. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2019 - AudioFile

2018-11-13

Everyone and his butler thinks he can do the Wodehouse voice. They're all wrong, but Schott's version, a painstaking facsimile rendered in spun sugar, has its own particular charm.

From 1915 to 1974, the British humorist and immortal genius P.G. Wodehouse tickled readers' palates with tales of the well-born, well-heeled Bertie Wooster and his unflappable valet, Jeeves. Wodehouse balanced frenetic plots with wordplay that drew its zing from the contrast between Bertie's breeziness and Jeeves' formality. All the elements are here in Schott's version: country weekends with the "Aged Relative," impersonations, taxi chases, narrow escapes across rooftops, matrimonial engagements that threaten like thunderstorms. Familiar characters stay in character: Madeline Bassett moons over daisy chains, Roderick Spode stomps around in his fascist black shorts, Uncle Tom obsesses over antique silver, and Bingo, Freddie, Barmy, Tuppy, and Catsmeat booze it up with Bertie at the Drones Club. Schott, known for his charming trivia (Schott's Quintessential Miscellany, 2011, etc.), is capable of true Wodehousian flights in lines like "From across the auditorium came a clatter of chairs and the resounding ‘thud' of a tall man overestimating a low door" or "The majority of Dronesmen suffer from advanced cases of ergophobia—a sloth-inducing affliction that is as crippling as it is contagious. Medical Science has hitherto been reluctant to recognize ergophobia as a genuine diagnosis, but if Medical Science ever popped into the Drones Club on a weekday afternoon, then Medical Science's bow tie would spin round and round in amazement." But where the master's own voice seems to burble forth as effortlessly as a gutter's in a downpour, Schott gives the impression of infinite—if gleeful—labor. He even includes endnotes. The endnotes are a joy, as one might expect from the author of Schott's Miscellany, but still.

Anyone who hasn't read the original Jeeves and Wooster stories should start with the master himself, but fans longing for more will welcome Schott's homage, which was authorized by the Wodehouse estate.

Kirkus Reviews