Verbania, an imaginary village in Ticino, is a refuge for artists, writers, and the displaced. The call of freedom and tolerance precedes it. This paradise attracts John Edwards, the new star of the international theater scene, who wants to write his new play here. However, instead of finding peace, inspiration, and exchange with other great minds, the famous guest is distracted by parties, receptions, affairs, and nightly drinking binges. John Edwards becomes increasingly entangled in this clique that seems to live by its own rules. In "The Club," Henry Jaeger authentically and unvarnishedly depicts life within the last artists' colony of Ascona. The novel is a testament of its time and provides insight into the contradictory world of a seemingly elite community. In this sense, "The Club" is highly relevant. "Then more and more artists, painters, writers came... and eventually the wealthy from all over the world arrived... They are all in search of paradise. And here they believe they have found it.".