The Night Club is a novel by the Belgian writer Georges Simenon. The original French version L'Âne Rouge appeared in 1933; the English translation was first published in 1979.The novel is among his romans durs, a term roughly translated as hard, or harrowing, novels; it was used by Simenon for what he regarded as his serious literary works.The novel is set in Nantes, France. Simenon grew up in Liège in Belgium, but some elements of the novel are autobiographical: the young journalist who becomes interested in seedy nightlife, his weak mother, and his father with a heart condition. Source: Wikipedia (en)