Midnight Sun
Jo Nesbo, 2015 (U.S., 2016)
Knopf Doubleday
266 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780385354202
Summary
The internationally acclaimed author of Blood on Snow and the Harry Hole novels now gives us the tightly wound tale of a man running from retribution, a renegade hitman who goes to ground far above the Arctic circle, where the never-setting sun might slowly drive a man insane.
He calls himself Ulf—as good a name as any, he thinks—and the only thing he’s looking for is a place where he won’t be found by Oslo’s most notorious drug lord: the Fisherman.
He was once the Fisherman’s fixer, but after betraying him, Ulf is now the one his former boss needs fixed—which may not be a problem for a man whose criminal reach is boundless. When Ulf gets off the bus in Kasund, on Norway’s far northeastern border, he sees a "flat, monotonous, bleak landscape...the perfect hiding place. Hopefully."
The locals—native Sami and followers of a particularly harsh Swedish version of Christianity—seem to accept Ulf’s explanation that he’s come to hunt, even if he has no gun and the season has yet to start.
And a bereaved, taciturn woman and her curious, talkative young son supply him with food, the use of a cabin deep in the woods, a weapon—and companionship that stirs something in him he thought was long dead.
But the agonizing wait for the inevitable moment when the Fisherman’s henchmen will show—the midnight sun hanging in the sky like an unblinking, all-revealing eye—forces him to question if redemption is at all possible or if, as he’s always believed, "hope is a real bastard." (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—March 29, 1960
• Where—Oslo, Norway
• Education—Norwegian School of Economics
• Currently—lives in Oslo
Jo Nesbo is a Norwegian author, musician, and former business analyst, whose books have been translated into over 50 languages and sold 23 million copies.
Personal
Nesbo grew up in Molde. He played top-flight football (soccer) for Molde FK until he tore the cruciate ligaments in his knee at the age of 18. When he could no longer play sports, he signed up for military service, spending spent three years in Norway's far north. Later he applied to and was accepted at the Norwegian School of Economics.
Graduating with a degree in Economics and Business Administration, Nesbo worked as a stockbroker and then financial analyst. He also found time to form a rock band as main vocalist and songwriter. Although the band—Di Derre (Them There)—topped the Norwegian charts with its second album—and their concerts were all sell-outs—Nesbo continued crunching numbers by day while gigging at night.
Eventually exhausted and burned out, Nesbo took flight, literally, to Australia. On the airplane for 30 hours, he fleshed out a story on his laptop—about a guy named Harry—and the rest is publishing history.
In addition to writing and music, Nesbo is a dedicated rock climber and has climbed sport routes up to French grade 7c. He lives close to his former wife and their daughter in Oslo.
Harry Hole
Nesbo is primarily known for his 10 crime novels featuring Inspector Harry Hole, a tough detective working for Crime Squad and later with the National Criminal Investigation Service (Kripos). His investigations take him from Oslo to Australia and the Congo Republic. Hole takes on seemingly unconnected cases, involving a range of criminals: serial killers, bank robbers, gangsters, or the establishment. But he also spends a significant amount of time battling alcoholism and his own demons. The Harry Hole novels are multi-layered, violent and often feature women in peril.
Doctor Proctor
Reminiscent of Roald Dahl's books, Nesbo's four Doctor Proctor books for young readers focus on the antics of a crazy professor, his next-door neighbor Lisa, and and Lisa's peculiar friend Nilly.The books are concerned with self-identify, imagination, and courage
Stand-alones
Blood on Snow follows Olav Johansen, a fixer for Oslo crime boss Daniel Hoffman. Olav has just found the woman of his dreams; the only problem is that she's his boss' wife and that his boss has hired him to kill her.
Midnight Sun features Jon, or Ulf as he calls himself, a hapless criminal on the run from his boss, an Oslo drug lord known as the Fisherman. (Author bio adapted from Wikipedia and the author's website. Retrieved 2/17/2016.)
Book Reviews
Nesbo's prose is generally fast and functional, but it would be a stretch to call it good. Land is "stony and flat as a pancake"; Lea's laughter is "a well. No, a slowly flowing river."... Yet even without good prose or a thrilling plot, Midnight Sun manages to be a fun read, with a likable protagonist and a brisk, page-turning pace. Nesbo is a talented storyteller and his narrative intuition is on full display, even without the usual guns and guts.
Steph Cha - Los Angeles Times
When you are ineluctably and unarguably tse reigning king of Scandinavian crime fiction—as the charismatic Jo Nesbo is...can you afford to rest on your laurels? In Nesbo's case, the answer is probably yes.... But even a cursory examination of...Midnight Sun, shows that this is simply not the case. [T]his latest entry...may be slim, but [its] aim is focused: to deliver... kinetic excitement... from a writer who has honed the skills of his craft.
Barry Forshaw - Independent (UK)
[An] uncharacteristically genial, almost optimistic stand-alone novel.... The obligatory scenes of violence are fewer than in the Harry Hole novels. There are...a few surprises as to who are the good guys and the bad—and what their motives turn out to be. A plot twist at the end is jarring and unconvincing, although it comes so late as to hardly matter. Terse and unsentimental, this tale is a many-leveled parable of the human condition, intensified by the stark uncompromising setting of man against nature in one of the world’s most inhospitable locales.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
(Starred review.) [An] excellent standalone from Edgar-finalist Nesbo.... Immaculately plotted and perfectly paced, the book is also darkly funny and deadly serious. Scandinavian gloom notwithstanding, it has a neatly satisfying and surprisingly moving ending.
Publishers Weekly
Nesbo delivers a tale of hope and redemption in this brief story of a man who blunders into a life of crime and then tries to extricate himself with a minimum of damage to those around him. Although this is unlike the author's gritty "Harry H ole" stories, it is wholeheartedly recommended for...[its] strong character development. —Deb West, Gannon Univ. Lib., Erie, PA
Library Journal
The world's worst hit man goes aground in a little Norwegian town far above the Arctic Circle in this sharp, spare, postcard-sized tale.... Wasting not a word, Nesbo paints an indelible portrait of a criminal loser who...[is] faced with the supreme threat to his existence.
Kirkus Reviews
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)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they more one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you, the reader, begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers are skillful at hiding clues in plain sight. How well does the author hide the clues in this work?
4. Does the author use red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray?
5. Talk about plot's twists & turns—those surprising developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense? Are they plausible? Or do the twists & turns feel forced and preposterous—inserted only to extend the story.
6. Does the author ratchet up the story's suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? How does the author build suspense?
7. What about the ending—is it satisfying? Is it probable or believable? Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 2). Or does the ending come out of the blue? Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out? Or perhaps it's too predictable. Can you envision a better, or different, ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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The Girl in the Red Coat
Kate Hamer, 2016
Melville House
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781612195001
Summary
Newly single mom Beth has one constant, gnawing worry: that her dreamy eight-year-old daughter, Carmel, who has a tendency to wander off, will one day go missing.
And then one day, it happens: On a Saturday morning thick with fog, Beth takes Carmel to a local outdoor festival, they get separated in the crowd, and Carmel is gone.
Shattered, Beth sets herself on the grim and lonely mission to find her daughter, keeping on relentlessly even as the authorities tell her that Carmel may be gone for good.
Carmel, meanwhile, is on a strange and harrowing journey of her own—to a totally unexpected place that requires her to live by her wits, while trying desperately to keep in her head, at all times, a vision of her mother …
Alternating between Beth’s story and Carmel’s, and written in gripping prose that won’t let go, The Girl in the Red Coat—like Emma Donoghue’s Room and M. L. Stedman’s The Light Between Oceans—is an utterly immersive story that’s impossible to put down . . . and impossible to forget. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1964-65
• Raised—Pembrokeshire, Wales, UK
• Education—B.A., Manchester University; M.A., Aberystwyth University
• Awards—Rhys Davies Award
• Currently—lives in Cardiff, Wales
Kate Hamer was born in Plymouth, England, but grew up in Pembrokeshire, Wales. Her father was a naval engineer and her mother a public school teacher. When she was 10, the family, including her two older sisters, moved to Wales, where she has spent most of her life and considers home.
Hamer earned her B.A. from Manchester University and pursued a successful 10-year career in television documentaries before turning to fiction. In 2011 she earned her M.A. in Creative Writing at Aberystwyth University. While there, she won a prize for the best beginning of a novel—a piece what would turn into her first book, The Girl in the Red Coat.
Another of her stories won the Rhys Davies Award in 2011 and was read on BBC Radio 4. She was also awarded a Literature Wales bursary.
Hamer lives in Cardiff with her husband Mark, a gardener. The couple has two grown children. (Adapted from the UK publisher, Faber & Faber.)
Book Reviews
[G]ripping…. What kicks The Girl in the Red Coat out of the loop of familiarity is Ms. Hamer's keen understanding of her two central characters: Carmel and her devastated mother, Beth, who narrate alternating chapters…. Both emerge as individuals depicted with sympathy but also with unsparing emotional precision…. By cutting back and forth between Carmel and Beth's perspective, Ms. Hamer not only builds suspense but delineates the complicated bonds of love, dependency and resentment that bind mother and daughter. Their separation underscores their need for each other, while muffling memories of their sometimes tense, even testy relationship.
Michiko Kakutani - New York Times
Hamer’s book is a moving, voice-driven narrative. As much an examination of loss and anxiety as it is a gripping page-turner, it’ll appeal to anyone captivated by child narrators or analyses of the pains and joys of motherhood.
Huffington Post
(Starred review.) Hamer's spectacular debut skillfully chronicles the nightmare of child abduction. Telling the story in two remarkable voices...the author weaves a page-turning narrative....[which is] believable and nuanced, resulting in a morally complex, haunting read.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) Reading this novel is a test of how fast you can turn pages. Hamer...is a natural storyteller who writes with such a sense of drama, compulsion, and sympathy that most readers will devour this work. —Lisa Rohrbaugh, Leetonia Community P.L., OH
Library Journal
(Starred review.) Hamer’s lush use of language easily conjures fairy-tale imagery.... Although a kidnapped child is the central plot point, this is not a mystery but a novel of deep inquiry and intense emotions. Hamer’s dark tale of the lost and found is nearly impossible to put down.
Booklist
[P]oignantly details the loss and loneliness of a mother and daughter separated.... Hamer beautifully renders pain, exactly capturing the evisceration of loss, but she just falls short with the overall cohesion of the story. Exquisite prose..., but the book could have used more attention to less detail.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. In the beginning of the novel, Beth briefly loses Carmel in a maze. What is the significance of this moment? How did it influence your reaction to the scenes at the festival?
2. Beth tells Carmel that, regardless of what happens, Carmel must stay uniquely "Carmel" inside. Are names an important aspect of this story? Can you think of any examples where names play a significant role in the text?
3. Families, or, more importantly, family difficulties, are central to The Girl in the Red Coat. What are the various family dynamics at work? Where are there parallels and where are there inconsistencies?
4. Discuss Beth and her ex-husband’s shifting relationship. Consider how it is strengthened and changed by Carmel’s disappearance. As Beth says, "we were brother and sister united in this strange bond."
5. Early in the book, Carmel’s teacher, Mrs. Buckfast, refers to Beth as "yet another single mother." Think about the friendships Beth has with her female friends and how they support and teach each other. Are those relationships surprising in any way? How do they evolve?
6. Fairy tales play an important role throughout The Girl in the Red Coat. Discuss the fairy tale imagery (the woods, the significance of Carmel’s red coat) and how it elevates the novel into the realm of the supernatural. Did this affect your reading of the story?
7. How does Beth handle the loss of her daughter over the course of the novel? Did you notice examples of "tiny actions" that helped her cope? How do those actions compare to the more major developments in Carmel’s disappearance?
8. Gramps believes Carmel possesses a divine gift. Do you see evidence of this gift throughout the text? Are you convinced by it? Look closely at pages 225–227.
9. Gramps and Dorothy tell Carmel a number of lies in order to keep her with them. These lies escalate as Carmel becomes more and more suspicious. What are some of these lies and how do they affect Carmel? Is there one that feels like the breaking point, or is it more a matter of accumulation?
10. The word "courage" is a refrain throughout the novel. Discuss the ways in which the book’s protagonists—Carmel and Beth—display courage. How do those demonstrations compare to the "courage" we see in Gramps, Dorothy, and Paul?
11. Beth says she feels "better in an environment that says: "normality is paper thin." How does the world move on as Beth struggles with her grief? Did you notice historical or cultural clues that gave you a sense of when the narrative takes place? Did it matter? Look closely at pg. 247.
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
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The Good Liar
Nicholas Searle, 2016
HarperCollins
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062407498
Summary
Spinning a page-turning story of literary suspense that begins in the present and unwinds back more than half a century, this unforgettable debut channels the haunting allure of Atonement as its masterfully woven web of lies, secrets, and betrayals unravels to a shocking conclusion.
Veteran con artist Roy spots an obvious easy mark when he meets Betty, a wealthy widow, online.
In no time at all, he’s moved into Betty’s lovely cottage and is preparing to accompany her on a romantic trip to Europe. Betty’s grandson disapproves of their blossoming relationship, but Roy is sure this scheme will be a success. He knows what he’s doing.
As this remarkable feat of storytelling weaves together Roy’s and Betty’s futures, it also unwinds their pasts. Dancing across almost a century, decades that encompass unthinkable cruelty, extraordinary resilience, and remarkable kindness, The Good Liar is an epic narrative of sin, salvation, and survival—and for Roy and Betty, there is a reckoning to be made when the endgame of Roy’s crooked plot plays out. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—N/A
• Raised—Cornwall, England, UK
• Education—University of Bath; University of Göttingen
• Currently—lives in Yorkshire
Nicholas lives in the north of England. Nicholas Searle grew up in Cornwall and studied languages at the universities of Bath and Göttingen. After teaching for four years he moved to London to join the Civil Service. He had a hugely enjoyable twenty-three years in a variety of public service jobs before going to work for the New Zealand government in Wellington. In 2011 he returned to the UK, left the Civil Service and began writing in earnest. He and his wife now live in Yorkshire. (From Curtis Brown.)
Book Reviews
[A] fantastically assured debut…. The Good Liar makes you want to experience Nicholas Searle’s next trick.
Guardian (UK)
As the tension mounts, the reader is kept guessing…. The final denouement is a real cracker…. Added to the fiendishly clever plot, Searle’s writing is both drily amusing and elegantly crafted.
Daily Mail (UK)
However first-time author Nicholas Searle has written an incredibly dark, taut thriller and it deserves to be a bestseller. Think of Ruth Rendell morphing into John Le Carré (or should that be David Cornwell?). We are left wondering who and what constitutes a “good liar” when those two words seem a contradiction
Charlotte Heathcote - Daily Express (UK)
Engaging and poised.... The Good Liar is no straightforward thriller. Instead it's something of a hybrid of genres—character study meets mystery meets historical fiction—a wily tale of a much larger, more traumatic and multifaceted deception than initially anticipated.... Searle paces the twists and turns of the plot admirably well for a first-timer.
Lucy Scholes - Independent (UK)
Equal parts crime novel and character study, the tale is itself an elegantly structured long con. The pace is almost maddeningly deliberate..., but patient readers will be rewarded with devastating third-act twists and a satisfying denouement.
Publishers Weekly
A gut-clenching cat-and-mouse game…. This debut novel is a wellcrafted, complex tale that will appeal to fans of psychological thrillers.
Booklist
Despite the efforts to comment on a time in history when people made unimaginable choices that led to devastating tragedy, the novel mostly fails to resonate. Even with layers, the characters fail to inspire much deep interest or sympathy. The truth is interesting and unexpected, but it takes too long to unravel.
Kirkus Reviews
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)
(We'll add specific questions if and when they're made available by the publisher. In the meantime, use our generic mystery questions.)
GENERIC DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
Mystery / Crime / Suspense Thrillers
1. Talk about the characters, both good and bad. Describe their personalities and motivations. Are they fully developed and emotionally complex? Or are they more one-dimensional heroes and villains?
2. What do you know...and when do you know it? At what point in the book do you, the reader, begin to piece together what happened?
3. Good crime writers are skillful at hiding clues in plain sight. How well does the author hide the clues in this work?
4. Does the author use red-herrings—false clues—to purposely lead readers astray?
5. Talk about plot's twists & turns—those surprising developments that throw everything you think you've figured out into disarray. Do they enhance the story, add complexity, and build suspense? Are they plausible? Or do the twists & turns feel forced and preposterous—inserted only to extend the story.
6. Does the author ratchet up the story's suspense? Did you find yourself anxious—quickly turning pages to learn what happened? How does the author build suspense?
7. What about the ending—is it satisfying? Is it probable or believable? Does it grow out of clues previously laid out by the author (see Question 2). Or does the ending come out of the blue? Does it feel forced...tacked-on...or a cop-out? Or perhaps it's too predictable. Can you envision a better, or different, ending?
8. Are there certain passages in the book—ideas, descriptions, or dialogue—that you found interesting or revealing...or that somehow struck you? What lines, if any, made you stop and think?
9. Overall, does the book satisfy? Does it live up to the standards of a good crime story or suspense thriller? Why or why not?
(Generic Mystery Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)
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What Was Mine
Helen Klein Ross, 2016
Gallery Books
336 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781476732350
Summary
Simply told but deeply affecting, this urgent novel unravels the heartrending yet unsentimental tale of a woman who kidnaps a baby in a superstore—and gets away with it for twenty-one years.
Lucy Wakefield is a seemingly ordinary woman who does something extraordinary in a desperate moment: she takes a baby girl from a shopping cart and raises her as her own. It’s a secret she manages to keep for over two decades—from her daughter, the babysitter who helped raise her, family, coworkers, and friends.
When Lucy’s now-grown daughter Mia discovers the devastating truth of her origins, she is overwhelmed by confusion and anger and determines not to speak again to the mother who raised her. She reaches out to her birth mother for a tearful reunion, and Lucy is forced to flee to China to avoid prosecution.
What follows is a ripple effect that alters the lives of many and challenges our understanding of the very meaning of motherhood.
Author Helen Klein Ross, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker, weaves a powerful story of upheaval and resilience told from the alternating perspectives of Lucy, Mia, Mia’s birth mother, and others intimately involved in the kidnapping.
What Was Mine is a compelling tale of motherhood and loss, of grief and hope, and the life-shattering effects of a single, irrevocable moment. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1954 (?)
• Raised—King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, USA
• Education—B.S., Cornell University; M.F.A., New School for Social Research
• Awards—Shorty Award
• Currently—lives in New York City, New York, and Salisbury, Connecticut
Helen wrote her first novel in a composition notebook (you remember those). She was only eight, and the story revolved around a family of birds—proof that she's been interested in family dynamics for a long time.
Ross earned her B.S. from Cornell University and her M.F.A. from The New School for Social Research in New York. She spent the next 20 years working in advertising, in New York City and San Francisco, as a writer and creative director for top agencies and global brands.
When social media took off, Ross created her own blog, AdBroad. She then became noted for channeling Don Draper's wife Betty, from Mad Men, into an online presence. Ross gave Betty her own Twitter acount—@Betty Draper—a profile on Linked-In and Betty's own blog where she could kvetch about the woes of a 1960s housewife. These and other cross-platform type narratives, earned Ross a good deal of attention in the press and online media, including an article in the Wall Street Journal, as well as a Shorty Award. (Yes, the "Oscars for Twitter." Really.)
Ross is also an author of note. Her poetry, essays and fiction have appeared in The New Yorker, New York Times, and in literary journals and anthologies. Her first novel Making It: A Novel of Madison Avenue appeared in 2013, and her second, What Was Mine, in 2016. The second book debuted on January 5 and was sold out on Amazon before 8 A.M. People magazine selected it as a "Best New Book of 2016."
Ross lives with her husband in New York City and Salisbury, Connecticut. (Adapted from the author's website.)
Book Reviews
A suspenseful, moving look at twisted maternal love and the limits of forgiveness (Best New Books Pick).
People
Although the process by which Mia’s abduction comes out seems unrealistic and the shifting first-person narration doesn’t fully cohere, Ross deftly creates genuinely sympathetic characters and emotionally resonant prose around what could have felt sensationalistic.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred review.) [A] compelling and moving story that asks many questions about family, love, and justice.... Moving at a hard-to-put-down, breathless pace, this is suspenseful domestic fiction at its best. —Jan Marry, Williamsburg Regional Lib., VA
Library Journal
What Was Mine is an emotionally-grounded read.... By giving readers the chance to examine what may be unforgivable, Ross brings an entirely new twist to the usual abduction story. Fans of Gillian Flynn and Maria Semple will enjoy the intensely introspective What Was Mine.
Booklist
[An] improbable premise that an otherwise successful, stable woman would help herself to a stranger's baby. But suspending disbelief when reading well-written fiction can be pleasant. Ross' prose is both readable and enjoyable, and she touches on interesting ideas about identity, family, and the malleability of the human psyche.
Kirkus Reviews
A powerful plot told with exactly the right approach, What Was Mine is capable of sparking plenty of discussion, whether it is over a water cooler, in a book club or simply in the reader's mind.
Shelf Awareness
Discussion Questions
1. The title of the book, What Was Mine, gets at the themes of ownership and belonging. Discuss how that theme relates to the three main characters: Lucy, Marilyn, and Mia. What was theirs? What did they each lose throughout the story?
2. What is the effect of knowing from the beginning of the story that Lucy eventually gets caught?
3. In Lucy’s mind, aside from her one egregious act, she is a normal person—a good person, even. Is it possible for someone good and normal to stray so far from the path of what’s right and then simply return to it? Is it possible for a good person to do a bad thing, or are some acts so egregious as to define one as a bad person?
4. Marilyn’s character is portrayed as almost a different person before and after her daughter’s kidnapping. Discuss the ways in which she changes after going through this traumatic event.
5. "So much of who you are has to do with your mother." Do you agree with this statement?
6. Mia and Marilyn try to forgive Lucy for what she did, but others like Tom and even Lucy’s own sister, Cheryl, are not able to. Discuss the theme of forgiveness in the story. Why do you think two of the people most directly affected are the most willing to try to forgive? Have you ever been asked to forgive someone for something you thought was unforgivable?
7. Throughout the story, Lucy’s intentions don’t always line up with her actions. Even as she was kidnapping Mia, she was in denial about what she was doing, intending to give the baby back somehow. When she then almost lost Mia in a store, she "made promises to the universe" to set things right which she wouldn’t keep. She says she meant to tell Mia when she got older. "Part of me thought that if I waited long enough, if I used just the right words, perhaps she’d be able to understand." Do you think Lucy ever really intended to tell Mia the truth—or was she lying to herself about that, too?
8. After Mia discovers the truth about what happened to her, she has a hard time referring to either Lucy or Marilyn as "mother." Discuss what the word mother means to you. What makes a mother a mother? Is it the person who birthed you, whose genes you share, who raised you—and what if these don’t describe the same person? How do Mia’s feelings toward each of the women who think of themselves as her mother change over the next ten months?
9. When Lucy confesses her crime to Wendy, Wendy is kind and understanding, as she has a secret of her own to confess. Why do you think Wendy’s secret makes her sympathetic to Lucy? How do you think her secret compares with Lucy’s?
10. If the kidnapping hadn’t happened, Marilyn presumably would have chosen to remain employed and Mia would have been raised by a woman who, like Lucy, works outside the home. Compare and contrast the images presented in the book of different mothering styles and decisions that led to various choices. What do these differences in styles represent for Mia?
11. Marilyn and Tom both managed to eventually move on and make new lives for themselves after the kidnapping. Cheryl wonders how Lucy could ever "restore what she took from those parents[.] She took their baby. She took their marriage. She took the life they were meant to have." How do you think Marilyn and Tom would reconcile the regret of losing the life they were meant to have with embracing the seemingly happy lives they ended up with?
12. Does the fact that Lucy raised Mia with love excuse her actions? What does "restorative justice" mean in this case? How do you think she deserves to be punished for her crime?
(Questions issued by publisher.)
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The Golden Son
Shilpi Somaya Gowada, 2016
HarperCollins
408 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062391452
Summary
An unforgettable story of love, honor, tradition, and identity.
The first of his family to go to college, Anil Patel, the golden son, leaves his tiny Indian village to begin a medical residency at one of the best hospitals in America.
When his father dies, Anil becomes the head of the Patel household and inherits the mantle of arbiter for all of the village’s disputes. But he is uncertain that he has the wisdom and courage required to take on the role.
Back home in India, Anil’s childhood friend, Leena, struggles to adapt to her demanding new husband. Arranged by her parents, the marriage shatters Leena’s romantic hopes, and forces her to make choices that will hold drastic repercussions for her family.
Tender and bittersweet, The Golden Son illuminates the decisions we must make to find our true selves. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—December 9, 1970
• Where—Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Education—B.A., University of North Carolina; M.B.A, Stanford University
• Currently—lives in San Francisco, California, USA
Shilpi Somaya Gowada is a Canadian novelist and author of two novels—The Secret Daughter, published in 2010, and The Golden Son, in 2016. Gowada was raised in Toronto by parents who had emigrated from Mumbai, India. She received her BA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and received an MBA from Stanford University.
She has worked as a business strategist, at one point as a vice president for an internet company, and now operates her own consulting firm. Gowada lives in San Francisco, California, with her husband and children.
Her First novel,
(Adapted from Canadian Encyclopedia.)
Book Reviews
The Golden Son triumphs because of its many pleasures and complications: romantic intrigues, family vendettas, unexpected tragedies and criminal secrets harbored by characters in both India and America. This satisfying immersion in two complicated cultures offers no easy resolutions.
Washington Post
Gowda can write up moments that break your heart... The Golden Son combines the immigrant novel with a fascination for the insecure and dependent lives of rural women in India. The book does not finish with the most predictable ending, but a version of happily ever after does take place. And yes, it evoked a few tears, too.
Toronto Globe and Mail
Gowda has the writerly chops when it comes to pace and plot.... The novel’s denouement manages to subvert expectations, while still fulfilling the fable’s responsibility to convey a useful, resonant truth.
Toronto Star
Gowda is a gifted storyteller, bringing together various related story strands into a fully integrated whole.
Vancouver Sun
The Golden Son successfully achieves the virtually impossible: it is every bit as good and strong as...Secret Daughter.... Both tell compelling stories that make each book a page-turner and a fast read. Both are extremely well-written with riveting plots.... Gowda's characters are beautifully and subtly drawn.... It was five years in the making and well worth the wait.
Winnipeg Free Press
The large and small struggles that make up everyday life are woven into an international family saga in Gowada’s latest novel.... [The Golden Son] offers readers a vivid cultural immersion. Even if the outcome is somewhat predictable, and tied up a bit too neatly, the journey to get there is deeply pleasurable.
Publishers Weekly
Discussion Questions
1. The Golden Son deals with a myriad of issues, such as family, responsibility and acceptance. What do you think is the overall theme of this novel? What is the significance of the title?
2. Why didn’t one of Anil’s brothers take over as village arbiter when their father died?
3. After a very difficult first year of residency, Anil starts to make a connection with what he’s learning and the patients he’s treating:
Anil had not looked closely into his patients' eyes before, but now he found it impossible to look away.... [H]e saw bewilderment...and felt their silent trust like two ominous weights on his shoulders. Above all, he saw fear distilled to its purest form...he could never forget his patients were the fortunate ones—in a world-class hospital filled with doctors and equipment, not an isolated village hundreds of kilometers away from the nearest medical facility.... This is why he’d come to America.
How does this change Anil as a doctor?
4. Leena feels responsible for the strife she causes her family after fleeing her abusive marriage. How would you have behaved if you were the parent in that situation? How would your own parents have dealt with it? Can you go against your own culture for the sake of your children?
5. Were you surprised by people’s reactions to Leena after she flees Girish? What does this say about the place women hold in her society? Were you shocked when young Ritu revealed the truth about Girish’s first wife?
6. Leena finds a new vocation in her pottery. How does this endeavor bring her back to life, so to speak? How is the clay a metaphor for life?
7. What do you think was the turning point for Anil, when he finally stopped resisting his role within his family?
8. Do you think Anil’s decision to give the long-time farmhand a parcel of land was a wise one? Why or why not? What about his brother’s reaction?
9. Anil realizes that "Not only was it impossible to truly belong in America, but he didn’t fit in here (India) anymore either. He was a dweller of two lands, accepted by none." How did the attack on Baldev in Dallas contribute to Anil’s feeling like a man without a country? What led to his alienation in India?
10. What did Anil learn from his relationship with his American girlfriend, Amber? What role did Dr. Sonia Mehta play in his life?
11. Anil observes fellow resident Trey Crandall taking unauthorized meds from the drug trolley at the hospital and struggles with how to handle this information. What would you have done in his situation? Why do you think he’s reluctant to report Trey? Is it similar to the reason Baldev didn’t press charges against his attackers?
12. How is Anil different from his two roommates, Baldev and Mahesh? What do they share in common?
13. Leena tells Anil: "People may never respect me. I don’t expect it. I’ve survived this long. Damaged, but not broken." How have her "damage" and flaws given her strength?
14. What did you think of Anil’s suggestion of an arbitration council made up of his brothers? How does this set-up utilize their skills?
15. Why do you think Leena turned down Anil’s proposal of marriage and offer to bring her, her mother, Ritu and Dev to America?
16. Anil goes from being a foreigner in two lands to fully inhabiting his life in both India and America. What finally made this possible for him?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)