Pensioners' Palace Club

In the novel Postern of Fate, the Pensioners' Palace Club (the PPC) is a social club for old age pensioners. It is located at one end of Hollowquay, "halfway to Moreton Cross" (presumably a neighbouring village). According to Albert Batt, it had been built just two to three years before the events in the book. It organised activities such as games and bingo and had concerts. It is similar to a Women's Institute but is specially for elderly people.

Tuppence's Junior Brigade suggested that Tuppence should go there if she wants to hear about the old days. After the death of Old Isaac, they thought it was the next best place to hear stories about what happened at Swallow's Nest. For Tuppence, the best time to go would be in the afternoon when the elderly folk gathered for tea and snacks.

Tuppence's visit to the PPC is narrated in detail in one chapter and is a parable for the entire book and the entire course of her investigation. Her bewildering experience there somewhat mirrors that of the reader of the book. Coming back, she declared that she has been worn out and that she is "off books" (because a book had drawn her into the investigation in the first place). At the PPC, "six people are talking at once, and most of them can't talk properly and they all say different things--you see, you don't really know what they're saying."

The stories Tuppence heard had been handed down over the generations by various great-aunts and grandmothers. They vaguely concerned events before the First World War, it was about fascists. Mary Jordan was good looking, got secrets out of sailors and soldiers. There was something about a boat race Oxford vs Cambridge, and hidden treasure, gold--goldfish, gold ingot from Australia, gold in galleons and so on. This much Tuppence already knew before she went. Tuppence reckoned if she wants anything useful, she would have to select a few useful storytellers, get them alone and ask for the story again without distrcting contributions from others. In the end she did not need to do that.

People at the PPC

 * A stout woman of about seventy who appears to be in charge
 * Mollie - prepares tea for the others
 * Benny - an old man with a beard who looked to be about a hundred, heard stories from his Uncle Len
 * A rather prim old lady with grey hair and a lace fichu
 * Maudie - another old lady who sings with a quavering voice
 * a grim looking woman with iron grey hair