Discussion Questions
Use these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for Coral Glynn:
1. What do you think of Cora—how would you describe her? Are there times when you find her frustrating? In what ways does her past affect her? For instance, she compares physical affection to hearing someone speak a foreign language. Why?
2. What about Major Hart—how would you describe him? Why does he ask Coral to marry him? Do you think he loves her? Why does Clement rebuff the attentions of Robin, his childhood lover? Is he no longer attracted to, or in love with, Robin? Is there another reason?
3. A reviewer has described Coral, a live-in-nurse, as an "adjunct" to the lives of others. What does that mean? Do you agree?
4. Talk about some of the wonderful symbolism the author uses: the episode in which Coral tries on her wedding dress; the wedding night during which Coral sits on the bed of a dead woman, wearing the nightgown of a suicide; the copse of holly in the woods with its prickly thorns.
5. How do we learn about Coral's past—the way in which the author gradually reveals snippets of information about her. What do we learn...and when do we learn it? Were you surprised by the disclosures?
6. Why doesn't Coral stop the children's "game" in the woods...or at the very least tell Major Hart what she saw? Does what she later tells Clement and Inspector Hoke make sense?
7. In what ways does Coral's life change once she gets to London? What, for instance, is the significance of the luncheon table in Guildford when she looks back through the cafe window—"the remnants of her meal remained there as blatant as evidence: she was a person in the world. She existed, and she was free."
8. (A follow-up to Question 7) At the beginning of Part Three, Coral thinks to herself that she has found happiness, "even if it is not exactly happiness." Comment on her state of mind in this passage:
But it was a sort of freedom: there had been so many problems—it had all been problems, eveything had been a problem for such a long time—and to be released from that perpetually increasing darkness was a kind of joy.
9. What were your feelings when Coral rejected Clement once he visits her in London? Were you disappointed...or relieved? Why does Coral refuse Clement? Might they have been happy together?
10. Talk about social class in this book? How does it manifest itself? Consider to the two conversations Coral has regarding the wedding luncheon guests, one with Clement and one with Dolly. Dolly,for instance, insists that class doesn't matter anymore when it comes to Coral marrying Clemment. Is she right?
13. There is some very funny writing in this book, pensive as it is—the dialogue when Coral first walks into the dress shop, the pastry bun Mrs. Pence tries to give to the inspector, Clement's reaction to the grasshopper cocktail and coral's to the canapes at Dolly and Robin's. What else did you find humorous.
12. Were you surprised by the end? Do you find it satisfying...or would you have preferred a different ending? And why does Clement walk to the woods after Dolly tells him of Coral's visit? Why does he seem melancholy?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)