The English Book Club: The Queen’s Gambit

In the novel The Queen’s Gambit by Walter Trevis, we follow the life of orphan Beth Harmond in America in the fifties and sixties. Although she is different and socially awkward, she soon displays an extraordinary talent for chess, which becomes the centre of her life. But as she climbs the rankings of the best chess players, she also has to battle her own self-destructive tendencies. The novel deals with growing up and the search for a place in the world, discrimination, the darker side of being a child prodigy and psychological problems.