Discussion Questions
We'll add publisher questions if and when they're available; in the meantime, use our LitLovers talking points to help start a discussion for NIGHT COUNTRY … and then take off on your own:
1. To what degree, if any, have either Alice or Ellery—or both—changed since their appearances in The Hazel Wood, this book's prequel. Are they different? If so how?
2. Do you find the city of New York a fitting milieu for the dark enchantment of this fantasy? Did you find the urban setting for the Alice chapters as mesmerizing as the Hinterland? How does the author depict the city to conform to her fairytale ethos.
3. Alice frequently questions her own humanity, her goodness. What do you think about her following observation regarding her soul?
To be honest, I don’t know if I’ve even got a soul. If a soul is what makes you human, then I probably don’t. Unless a soul is something you can grow, like, after the fact. And I don’t think it is. So. No Soul.
4. Alice believes that, despite her yearning, she'll never quite achieve normalcy. She says she is doomed by "the loneliness of singularity." How so? How does she differ from the "junk drawer of ex-Story oddballs" in the novel? What do they hope for and why?
5. Discuss Alice's transformation toward the end of the book. How does she gain control of her life?
5. Ellery is tasked with his own project. Talk about role in this dark tale.
6. How does Night Country compare with The Hazel Wood? Do you prefer one over the other? Does the sequel fulfil the
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)