Wildling Sisters (Chase) - Discussion Questions

Discussion Questions
1. Did you have a favorite Wilde sister? Why or why not? Did the sisters remind you of your own siblings?

2. How does the novel portray family? Is sisterhood different for the Wilde sisters from how it is for Romy and Bella? Is the sisterhood bond different from brotherhood or from the bond between siblings of different genders? If so, why?

3. The novel asks us to consider how far we would go to protect those we love. Were you surprised by the decisions the Wilde sisters make? Margot thinks they are "bonded by blood" (p. 2). Do you think the sisters committed a crime? If so, are they all equally guilty?

4. When talking about Sybil, Moll tells Margot, "Like I believe in the Good Lord, she believes in Audrey" (p. 194). What does Moll mean? Discuss the role of faith in the novel. How does Sybil’s faith in Audrey shape her character? What does Margot have faith in? What about Jessie?

5. Margot misses Audrey terribly at the beginning of the novel, but as the summer progresses, her relationship to Audrey seems to change as well. What does Audrey’s friendship mean to Margot? Why do you think Margot goes along with Sybil’s fantasy? How does pretending to be Audrey change Margot?

6. Margot thinks "Applecote Manor was summer" (p. 38). How does visiting Perry and Sybil change the Wilde girls? Was there somewhere you went as a child that offered you a similar sense of freedom? Do you remember a particular summer in which you think your life changed?

7. Jessie feels as though she was destined to live at Applecote, and Margot also feels a lifelong bond with the property. Have you ever been drawn to a place? Why do you think the house calls to Jessie the way it does? Is its pull different for Margot?

8. Jessie and Will believe that Applecote Manor will be a "gentler, more benign" place than London, a city that "forces girls to grow up too fast, strips them of their innocence" (p. 3). Do you agree with their decision to move the girls? How does the house prove their expectations wrong? Have you ever moved somewhere in hopes of achieving a different lifestyle?

9. As the summer goes on, Margot notices that Sybil and Perry "are really one system, redistributing their appetites, that the marriage that once looked so dead may actually be alive at the roots" (p. 202). How does the novel portray marriage? How does marriage for Sybil and Perry differ from marriage for Jessie and Will, or for Will and Mandy?

10. Were you surprised by Harry’s confession to Margot? Why or why not? How do you feel about the way Audrey’s story ends?
(Questions issued by publisher.)

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