Elsey Come Home
Susan Conley, 2019
Knopf Doubleday
256 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780525520986
Summary
A shattering new novel that bravely delves into the darkest corners of addiction, marriage, and motherhood.
When Elsey’s husband, Lukas, hands her a brochure for a weeklong mountain retreat, she knows he is really giving her an ultimatum: Go, or we’re done.
Once a successful painter, Elsey set down roots in China after falling passionately for Lukas, the tall, Danish MC at a warehouse rave in downtown Beijing.
Now, with two young daughters and unable to find a balance between her identities as painter, mother, and, especially, wife, Elsey fills her days worrying, drinking, and descending into desperate unhappiness.
So, brochure in hand, she agrees to go and confront the ghosts of her past.
There, she meets a group of men and women who will forever alter the way she understands herself: from Tasmin, another (much richer) expat, to Hunter, a young man whose courage endangers them all, and, most important, Mei—wife of one of China’s most famous artists and a renowned painter herself—with whom Elsey quickly forges a fierce friendship and whose candidness about her pain helps Elsey understand her own.
But Elsey must risk tearing herself and Lukas further apart when she decides she must return to her childhood home—the center of her deepest pain—before she can find her way back to him.
Written in a voice at once wry, sensual, blunt, and hypnotic, Elsey Come Home is a modern odyssey and a quietly dynamic portrait of contemporary womanhood. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1967 ?
• Where—rural Maine, USA
• Education—B.A., MIddlebury College; M.F.A., San Diego State University
• Currently—lives in Portland, Maine
Susan Conley is the author of two novels—Elsey Come Home (2019) and Paris Was the Place (2013)—as well a memoir, The Foremost Good Fortune (2011). The latter won the Maine Literary Award for memoir.
Born and raised in rural Maine, Conley received her B.A., from Middlebury College and her M.F.A. from San Diego State University. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Paris Review, and Ploughshares. She has been awarded fellowships from the MacDowell Colony, the Bread Loaf Writers' Conference, the Maine Arts Commission, and the Massachusetts Arts Council.
Conley spent three years in Beijing with her husband and two sons before moving back to Portland, Maine, where she helped found The Telling Room, a creative writing center serving 4,000 Maine students each year. She still lives in Portland, teaching in the Stonecoast Writing Program at the University of Southern Maine. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Much of Elsey’s narrative is backward looking. Information drifts in slowly.… Learning more about Elsey’s life gradually clarifies its trajectory, but the unhurried pace of the narrative snippets dulls the first quarter of the book because the details on offer do not make clear why Elsey can neither nurture her beloved family nor pick up her artist’s brush.… In the end… this is a thought-provoking novel, often beautifully written.
Wsshington Times
Described as "perfect" by Judy Blume herself, Susan Conley’s new novel follows Elsey, a woman living in Beijing struggling to reconcile her identities as painter, mother, expat, individual, and wife. When the novel opens, Elsey is drinking heavily and descending rapidly into misery. Her husband suggests she take part in a retreat, where she meets a handful of strangers who change her life. It’s a necessary look at the identity crisis women can face when the world forces them into boxes.
Marie Claire
Elsey used to be a recognized painter, but now she’s the wife of expat Danish musician Lukas and the mother of two girls under 10, and she’s tethered to their home in China. As the slim novel opens, she’s depressed and lost and in crisis; at Lukas’ insistence, she leaves the family for a weeklong retreat that will end up transforming her. Even within a few paragraphs of this exploration of motherhood and individuality, Elsey’s voice and emotional turbulence leap off the page.
Huffington Post
(Starred review) Conley hits the mark on a story line that feels both high-stakes and fine-tuned. But it’s the raw desperation of Elsey’s inner dialogue that elevates the novel, making for an honest and astute depiction of the human psyche.
Publishers Weekly
An esteemed artist, the disaffected, suddenly hard-drinking Elsey has stopped painting in favor of a desperate attachment to her children, and her adventures in yoga and thereafter are a way of trying to get back to her husband.
Library Journal
A yoga retreat on a mountain in China signals a turning point for an expatriate American painter..…Conley's slim novel illustrates the power of storytelling [in] healing. What entices and endures here is the voice: dreamy, meditative, hypnotic, and very real.
Kirkus Reviews
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 ELSEY COME HOME … then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe Elsey? Why is her life such a struggle? As the book progresses through flashbacks, what do we come to learn about Elsey's past that continues to haunt her?
2. What makes Elsey decide to attend the retreat? Is it solely to please or assuage Lukas?
3. Once at the retreat, Justice, the leader, tells a story of a Daoist philosopher who dreamed he was a butterfly. When he awoke, he could not tell if he was a man dreaming he was a butterfly or if he was a butterfly dreaming he was a man. Justice tells the group, "This is what I want from you here. To become a butterfly." What does he mean?
4. Follow-up to Question 3: Elsey admits to being puzzled by the butterfly dream and Justice's charge to become a butterfly, but she says, "I just knew I wanted to be like him, calm." Is that part of what Justice means, or perhaps at least a beginning of an inward journey?
5. Elsey seems to mock herself. "You hear it and don’t understand when women say they lost themselves because it seems so overdone," she says at one point, "and there are four hundred million people in China living on a dollar a day, so cry me a river." Is Elsey's self-deprecation, or her sense of guilt, over the magnitude of her problems genuine? Is she right: do her problems pale in comparison to others, especially in China? Is she simply being self-indulgent, complaining about first-world problems? On the other hand, is Elsey being unfair to herself?
6. Elsey says, "I couldn't understand how to be obsessed with my children and obsessed with my painting at the same time. I thought both called for obsession." Parse those two sentences—in terms of Elsey's life goals and in terms of your own. Is obsession necessary for pursuing a career and/or raising a family?
7. The author gives a bird's-eye view of China and its numerous social problems: disappearing activists, kidnapped Hong Kong booksellers, the plight of factory workers, and abortion used as birth control. Were these insights into Chinese society interesting, or did you find them distracting from the main story?
8. Talk about the meaning of the novel's title: Elsey come home. Where is home, what is home—in other words, what is the meaning of home, for Elsey in this book, for you, for anyone?
9. Talk about the way in which the week-long retreat changes Elsey. What insights into her life does she gain? How does her friendship with Mei affect her? What about the other participants? What are their individual roles in this story?
10. What do you see for Elsey in the future?
(Resources by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Next Year in Havana
Chanel Cleeton, 2019
Penguin Publishing
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780399586682
Summary
After the death of her beloved grandmother, a Cuban-American woman travels to Havana, where she discovers the roots of her identity—and unearths a family secret hidden since the revolution.
Havana, 1958.
The daughter of a sugar baron, nineteen-year-old Elisa Perez is part of Cuba's high society, where she is largely sheltered from the country's growing political unrest--until she embarks on a clandestine affair with a passionate revolutionary...
Miami, 2017.
Freelance writer Marisol Ferrera grew up hearing romantic stories of Cuba from her late grandmother Elisa, who was forced to flee with her family during the revolution. Elisa's last wish was for Marisol to scatter her ashes in the country of her birth.
Arriving in Havana, Marisol comes face-to-face with the contrast of Cuba's tropical, timeless beauty and its perilous political climate.
When more family history comes to light and Marisol finds herself attracted to a man with secrets of his own, she'll need the lessons of her grandmother's past to help her understand the true meaning of courage. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Chanel Cleeton is bestselling author of When We Left Cuba (2019), the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick Next Year in Havana.(2019), and The Last Train to Key West (2020).
Originally from Florida, she grew up on stories of her family's exodus from Cuba following the events of the Cuban Revolution. Her passion for politics and history continued during her years spent studying in England where she earned a bachelor's degree in international relations from Richmond, the American International University in London, and a master's degree in global politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Chanel also received her Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law. She loves to travel and has lived in the Caribbean, Europe, and Asia. (From the publisher.)
Book Reviews
Next Year in Havana reminds us that while love is complicated and occasionally heartbreaking, it's always worth the risk.
NPR
A sweeping love story and tale of courage and familial and patriotic legacy that spans generations.
Entertainment Weekly
(Starred review) Florida native Cleeton, drawing on her family history, brings the charm of 1950s Havana to life in her first novel.… An enticing and wonderful read for lovers of historical fiction and soul-searching journeys. —Adriana Delgado, Palm Beach Cty. Lib., Loxahatchee, FL
Library Journal
(Starred review) A poignant tale of aristocracy, subterfuge, tyranny, conflict, corruption and courage during the Cuban Revolution.… Next Year In Havana is an extraordinary journey that connects the past and present and will enthrall readers until the very end.
Romance Times
Romance… leavened with a sizable measure of earnest political history… Somber and humor-free, the novel feels uncomfortably strung between its twin missions to entertain and to teach detailed, repetitive factual lessons.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The novel alternates between Elisa Perez’s life in Cuba in 1958 and 1959 and her granddaughter Marisol Ferrera’s trip to Cuba in 2017. Which woman did you identify with more? What parallels can you see between their personalities and their lives? What differences?
2. The first chapter ends with Elisa wondering how long her family will be away from Cuba. The final chapter ends over a decade later with her posing the same question. How are the themes of hope and exile illustrated in the book? How does the weight of exile affect the Perez family?
3. When Marisol arrives in Cuba she struggles with identifying as Cuban because she grew up in the United States and because she has never set foot on Cuban soil. How much does a physical place define one’s identity? How does Marisol’s trip alter her views about being Cuban and change her perception of herself? How do Marisol and her family attempt to keep their heritage alive in exile? Are there stories and rituals handed down through the generations in your family?
4. Like her grandmother, Marisol falls in love with a man who has revolutionary political leanings. What similarities can you see between Pablo's and Luis’s dreams for Cuba? What differences are there in their worldview? How do they go about achieving their dreams for a better Cuba?
5. Sacrifice is a major theme that runs throughout the novel. How do the characters make sacrifices for one another, and what are some examples of them risking their safety and security for their loved ones? How do you think you would have acted in similar situations?
6. Family plays an important role in the novel, and each of the characters face their own struggles in their attempts to live up to their family’s expectations. What are some examples of this? Did you identify with one character’s point of view more? Are there certain expectations in your own family? Do you feel the need to live up to them? How have they shaped your life decisions?
7. Elisa’s final wish is to have her ashes scattered over Cuban soil. Do you agree with her decision? Would you have wanted your ashes spread in Cuba or would you have preferred to be buried on American soil? Do you think Marisol picked the best place to spread Elisa’s ashes? Where else would you have considered scattering them? Have you scattered the ashes of a loved one? What was the experience like?
8. What initially attracts Elisa to Pablo? Do you believe they would have been able to overcome the differences between them if they weren’t caught in the midst of the Cuban Revolution? Or was their love fueled by the urgency of the times?
9. Elisa chooses to save her letters from Pablo and her memories of their romance by burying them in a box in the backyard. If you had a box in which to bury your most precious possessions, what would you choose to keep safe?
10. What parallels do you see between life in modern Cuba and life in pre-revolutionary Cuba? What differences?
11. Pablo tells Elisa that everything is political. Do you agree with him?
12. Despite coming from very different backgrounds, Marisol and Luis share many similarities that bring them together as a couple. What are some examples of this? Why do you think they get along so well? Do you think they are a good influence on each other?
13. Pablo believes that the best way to change his country is from within. Others like Elisa’s family choose to leave Cuba because they can no longer support the regime. Which approach do you identify with? What are the differences between the Cubans who remained in Cuba and those who live in exile? What are the similarities?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)
That Month in Tuscany
Inglath Cooper, 2018
Fence Free Entertainment
340 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780692084694
Summary
Ren Sawyer and Lizzy Harper live completely different lives. He’s a rock star with a secret he can no longer live with. She’s a regular person whose husband stood her up for a long planned anniversary trip.
On a flight across the Atlantic headed for Italy, a drunken pity party and untimely turbulence literally drop Lizzy into Ren’s lap. It is the last thing she can imagine ever happening to someone like her.
But despite their surface differences, they discover an undeniable pull between them. A pull that leads them both to remember who they had once been before letting themselves be changed by a life they had each chosen.
Exploring the streets of Florence and the hills of Tuscany together—two people with seemingly nothing in common—changes them both forever. And what they find in each other is something that might just heal them both. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—ca. 1962-63
• Raised—Callaway, Virginia, USA
• Education—B.A., Virginia Tech
• Awards—RITA Award
• Currently—lives in Franklin County, Virginia
Inglath Cooper is the author of more than 20 romance novels. She grew up in the small community of Callaway, Virginia, where she fell in love with reading as a child. As a teen she began dreaming of becoming a writer.
It was while she was a college student in the 1980s that Cooper began writing although it took six manuscripts before she sold her first book, Truths and Roses, in 1994. A community college course in creative writing in the 1990s helped boost her confidence.
Having published under the Harlequin label for years, in 2011 Cooper decided to start her own imprint, Fence Free Entertainment. Doing so, she says, allows her to maintain a closer connection to her readers.
Cooper married her high school sweetheart, Mac Cooper, settling in Franklin County, Virginia, near Smith Mountain Lake. In addition to their four daughters, Cooper shares the family home with a succession of rescue animals. She is actively involved with the Franklin County Humane Society, serving on the board of directors, fundraising, and photographing dozens of dogs and cats up for adoption. (Adapted from online sources, including The Roanoke Times .)
Book Reviews
…if this sounds like an ordinary, stereotypical romance, trust me, it is not. Why? The characters are nicely drawn, subtle and complete. The scenery is gorgeous. And there are enough plot twists to keep the reader turning pages, not to mention rooting for Lizzy and Ren.
Barbara Delinsky.com
I loved this book. All of the characters felt very real to me.… Parts of the novel read like a travel journal, and I mean that in a really good way. I loved the sights, sounds, and tastes of Tuscany. But the best part of this book was the emotion. It oozed.
kristystories.blogspot.com
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 THAT MONTH IN TUSCANY … then take off on your own:
1. How would you describe Lizzy Harper? What does the following observation suggest about how she views her life: "a day is normally sectioned off by appointments… and meetings… all of those things that manage to steal most of the best parts of our waking hours." (By the way, does that have complaint have a familiar ring to you and your own life?)
2. If someone bowed out of a trip that you had planned together, would you have the temerity to take off on your own as Lizzy does? (Perhaps that's actually happened to you.)
3. How does Ty, Lizzy's husband come across, both in his own chapters and in what Lizzy has to say about him? Why does Lizzy stay in the marriage? Also, Ty's chapters use the unusual 2nd person point-of-view. Why might the author have made that choice?
4. Talk about Ren Sawyer and the impact his brother's death has had on him. Why does he seem to struggle with his fame?
5. What draws Ren and Lizzy together? What do they see in one another? What are each seeking? Ultimately, what do the two learn from (or through) one another—how does their relationship change their lives?
6. What is Lizzy's relationship with her daughter? Why is Kylie so surprised when Lizzy takes off to Tuscany on her own? How does Kylie's understanding of her mother—and her father—change by the end of the novel?
7. Do you feel the subplot involving Kylie's kidnapping is well-integrated into the storyline, adding a good dose of suspense to the novel? Or do you feel it's a distraction from the main story? Perhaps, it's merely an awkward plot device used to get Lizzy to return home? Any thoughts?
8. Kylie's story is told in the 3rd person: does the narrator have an identity? If not, why might the author have chosen this perspective for Lizzy's daughter?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
No Exit
Taylor Adams, 2019
HarperCollins
352 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062875655
Summary
A brilliant, edgy thriller about four strangers, a blizzard, a kidnapped child, and a determined young woman desperate to unmask and outwit a vicious psychopath.
A kidnapped little girl locked in a stranger’s van. No help for miles. What would you do?
On her way to Utah to see her dying mother, college student Darby Thorne gets caught in a fierce blizzard in the mountains of Colorado. With the roads impassable, she’s forced to wait out the storm at a remote highway rest stop. Inside are some vending machines, a coffee maker, and four complete strangers.
Desperate to find a signal to call home, Darby goes back out into the storm . . . and makes a horrifying discovery. In the back of the van parked next to her car, a little girl is locked in an animal crate.
Who is the child? Why has she been taken? And how can Darby save her?
There is no cell phone reception, no telephone, and no way out. One of her fellow travelers is a kidnapper. But which one?
Trapped in an increasingly dangerous situation, with a child’s life and her own on the line, Darby must find a way to break the girl out of the van and escape.
But who can she trust?
With exquisitely controlled pacing, Taylor Adams diabolically ratchets up the tension with every page. Full of terrifying twists and hairpin turns, No Exit will have you on the edge of your seat and leave you breathless. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Taylor Adams is the author of No Exit (2019), Our Last Night (2016), and Eyeshot (2014).
In addition to novels, Adams both writes and directs independent films: in 2008 he directed the short film "And I Feel Fine." On graduating from Eastern Washington University, he received the Excellence in Screenwriting Award and the Edmund G. Yarwood Award.
His directorial work has screened at the Seattle True Independent Film Festival and his writing has been featured on KAYU-TV’s Fox Life blog. He lives in Washington state. (Adapted from the publisher and author's website.)
Book Reviews
[A] nail-biting thriller…. Darby has to figure out a way to save Jay. The only problem, she doesn’t know which traveler is [a] kidnapper or who can be trusted. The action drives to a climatic and emotionally charged ending.… [A] satisfying page-turner.
Publishers Weekly
Which one of the people inside is the monster behind the [kidnapping]…? This well-written, fast-paced thriller by Adams has enough twists to ensure an enjoyable read for even the most seasoned suspense fans. —Marianne Fitzgerald, Severna Park H.S., MD
Library Journal
[A]n enthralling tale that features a wonderfully relatable and gutsy heroine. Give it to readers looking for a female-led drama in the mode of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sibling works
Booklist
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 NO EXIT … then take off on your own:
m. Who was your first suspect as kidnapper? Why? Did you move on to others …or stay with your original suspect?
m. What do you think of Darby as a character? How would you describe her? Were some of the decisions she made frustrating for you? Does she grow/change during the course of the novel?
m. What would you have done in Darby's shoes?
m. All who have reviewed No Exit, confess to being in thrall to it, rushing toward the end, unable to put the book down until the last page. How did you experience the book?
(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online and off, with attribution. Thanks.)
Once Upon a River
Diane Setterfield, 2019
Atria/Emily Bestler Books
480 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780743298070
Summary
A richly imagined, powerful new novel about the wrenching disappearance of three little girls and the wide-reaching effect it has on their small town.
On a dark midwinter’s night in an ancient inn on the river Thames, an extraordinary event takes place.
The regulars are telling stories to while away the dark hours, when the door bursts open on a grievously wounded stranger. In his arms is the lifeless body of a small child.
Hours later, the girl stirs, takes a breath and returns to life. Is it a miracle? Is it magic? Or can science provide an explanation? These questions have many answers, some of them quite dark indeed.
Those who dwell on the river bank apply all their ingenuity to solving the puzzle of the girl who died and lived again, yet as the days pass the mystery only deepens. The child herself is mute and unable to answer the essential questions: Who is she? Where did she come from? And to whom does she belong? But answers proliferate nonetheless.
Three families are keen to claim her.
- A wealthy young mother knows the girl is her kidnapped daughter, missing for two years.
- A farming family reeling from the discovery of their son’s secret liaison, stand ready to welcome their granddaughter.
- The parson’s housekeeper, humble and isolated, sees in the child the image of her younger sister.
But the return of a lost child is not without complications and no matter how heartbreaking the past losses, no matter how precious the child herself, this girl cannot be everyone’s. Each family has mysteries of its own, and many secrets must be revealed before the girl’s identity can be known.
Once Upon a River is a glorious tapestry of a book that combines folklore and science, magic and myth.
Suspenseful, romantic, and richly atmospheric, the beginning of this novel will sweep you away on a powerful current of storytelling, transporting you through worlds both real and imagined, to the triumphant conclusion whose depths will continue to give up their treasures long after the last page is turned. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—August 22, 1964
• Where—Berkshire, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Ph.D., University of Bristol
• Currently—lives in Oxford, England
Diane Setterfield is a British author whose 2006 debut novel, The Thirteenth Tale, became a New York Times No. 1 best-seller. Written in the Gothic tradition, the book contains echoes of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights. The novel was adapted for television by Christopher Hampton. Starring Vanessa Redgrave, Olivia Colman, and Sophie Turner, The Thirteenth Tale was televised on BBC2 in December 2013.
Setterfield's second novel, Bellman and Black, was published in 2013, and Once Upon a River in 2019.
Before she turned to writing, Setterfield studied French Literature at the University of Bristol, earning a bachelor of arts in 1986 and a PhD in 1993. Her Ph.D. is on "autobiographical structures in Andre Gide's early fiction." Setterfield taught at numerous schools, as well as privately, before leaving academia in the late 1990s.
Setterfield currently lives in Oxford, England. (Adapted from Wikipedia. Retrieved 1/4/2019.)
Book Reviews
Utterly enthralling.
New York Journal of Books
(Starred Review) Setterfield braids miracle and mystery in this marvelous tale.… By combining …a hint of Austen’s domestic stories, a tinge of Tolkien’s more folkloric elements, and a dash of mystery from Christie—Setterfield has created a tale not to be missed.
Publishers Weekly
(Starred Review) The heart of the story are the relationships that twist and turn, as if they also follow the river. Recommended to readers who enjoy popular or historical fiction with gothic twistse. —Jennifer Funk, McKendree Univ. Lib., Lebanon, IL
Library Journal
Setterfield fills this richly layered plot with a fascinating cast of memorable characters who weave in and out of each other's lives
Booklist
(Starred Review) Setterfield masterfully assembles an ensemble of wounded, vulnerable characters.… [The book] celebrates the timeless secrets of life, death, and imagination—and the enduring power of words. Fans, rejoice!
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
1. The Swan Inn, Buscot Lodge, and the towns and villages along the river Thames create a very specific atmosphere for the story that unfolds. What role does the Swan itself play? Could this story have taken place anywhere else?
2. To judge by such details as photography and transport as described in the novel, the events appear to be set in the 1870s or thereabouts. Could the novel have been set at another time in history? What would have had to be different if the author had chosen another period?
3. What is the significance of the river?
4. By the time Vaughan had written a concise two-page account of Amelia’s kidnapping to his father in New Zealand, "the horror of it was quite excised." What effect does the act of storytelling have on Vaughan? What about the other characters?
5. A wedge is driven between the Vaughans as they struggle to come to terms with the loss of Amelia. In the end, what brings them together? How?
6. How does Robert Armstrong, raised outside family life in circumstances of financially cushioned neglect, turn out to be such a good man?
7. Do you agree with Armstrong’s lament at the end of the book? (See below.) Is it possible if he had been a different kind of father things might have turned out differently for Robin?
Sometimes I think there is nothing more a man can do. A child is not an empty vessel, Fleet, to be formed in whatever way the parent thinks fit. They are born with their own hearts and they cannot be made otherwise, no matter what love a man lavishes on them.
8. Is Lily White responsible for her actions?
9. Consider the importance of family in the novel. What does it mean to Robert Armstrong? What does family mean to Daunt and Rita? And Victor? What about Lily?
10. It’s easy to get carried away talking about the key families in the plot, the Vaughans, the Armstrongs, and Lily and her brother, but what about the family at the inn? What important functions do they perform? And what do the drinkers—largely unnamed—add?
11. Storytelling is central to Once Upon a River. The story of Quietly the ferryman is an invention of the author, but it contains many elements from traditional or mythological tales. Does it remind you of any other stories in particular?
12. How many types or styles of story are told in Once Upon a River? Be as wide in your interpretation of "story" as you like!
13. Folk beliefs are still alive on the riverbank—changelings, witches, and dragons are all still real to some, and the Armstrongs believe Bess has a Seeing eye. What are the real-life consequences of these stories? Which characters have faith in these stories, and which do not? How does it affect their actions?
14. In the context of women’s lives in the nineteenth century, what do you make of Rita’s reluctance to marry? What brings her to reconsider?
15. Is the fortune-telling pig mere light relief or something more?
16. The identity of the girl is one of the driving mysteries of Once Upon a River. What were your early thoughts about who she really was, and did they alter as the story developed? What did you think of the way this question was resolved at the end?
17. The ending elaborates on the "return to life" of children apparently drowned. Did this come as a surprise to you?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)