The Queen’s Gambit

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What to expect

Engaging and fast-paced, this gripping coming-of-age novel of chess, feminism, and addiction speeds to a conclusion as elegant and satisfying as a mate in four. Now the basis for a highly acclaimed, award-winning Netflix series.

Eight year-old orphan Beth Harmon is quiet, sullen, and by all appearances unremarkable. That is, until she plays her first game of chess. Her senses grow sharper, her thinking clearer, and for the first time in her life she feels herself fully in control.

By the age of sixteen, she is competing for the US Open championship. But as Beth hones her skills on the professional circuit, the stakes get higher, her isolation grows more frightening, and the thought of escape becomes all the more tempting.

Critics Review

  • “The Queen’s Gambit is sheer entertainment. It is a book I reread every few years—for the pure pleasure and skill of it.”

    Michael Ondaatje, New York Times bestselling author

  • “Gripping reading…Nabokov’s The Defense and Zweig’s The Royal Game are the classics: now joining them is The Queen’s Gambit.”

    Financial Times (London)

  • “Compelling…A magnificent obsession.”

    Los Angeles Times

  • “Tevis traps us in the breathless drama of the moment and makes us feel the same intense involvement his characters feel.”

    Cleveland Plain Dealer

  • “There’s more excitement in Beth than in the collected works of Robert Ludlum.”

    Forth Worth Star-Telegram

  • “It’s advisable to tape your fingers before opening The Queen’s Gambit. Otherwise, the suspense may bring on nail-chewing right to the elbow.”

    Houston Chronicle

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