Margaret the First (Dutton) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also, consider these LitLovers talking points to start a discussion for Margaret the First...then ta:

1. How would you describe Margaret Cavendish? Talk about the trajectory of her life, from young Margaret Lucas, lady-in-waiting, to Lady Cavendish, and eventually back in England as Mad Madge. What drives her, always?

2. Author Danielle Dutton says she discovered Margaret through Virginia Woolf; indeed Woolf hovers over this book. If you haven't already, consider reading Woolf's A Room of One's Own and look for parallels between the two works—in language and imagery, as well as subject matter.

3. Talk about the traditional role of women in the 1600s and the ways in which Margaret eschews tradition.

4. Follow-up to Question 3: In what ways could Margaret be considered a 21st century woman? Consider, especially her drive for independence and creative expression. How does Margaret's story speak across the centuries to women of today?

5. In what way is Danielle Dutton's book not typical of historical fiction? Might the author's idiosyncratic style be a fitting manner in which to tell Margaret Cavendish's story?

(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, feel free to use these, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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