Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century
Peter Graham, 2011 (2015, US printing)
Skyhorse Publishing
348 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781620876305
Summary
On June 22, 1954, teenage friends Juliet Hulme—better known as bestselling mystery writer Anne Perry—and Pauline Parker went for a walk in a New Zealand park with Pauline’s mother, Honora. Half an hour later, the girls returned alone, claiming that Pauline’s mother had had an accident.
But when Honora Parker was found in a pool of blood with the brick used to bludgeon her to death close at hand, Juliet and Pauline were quickly arrested, and later confessed to the killing. Their motive? A plan to escape to the United States to become writers, and Honora’s determination to keep them apart.
Their incredible story made shocking headlines around the world and would provide the subject for Peter Jackson’s Academy Award–nominated film, Heavenly Creatures (1994).
A sensational trial followed, with speculations about the nature of the girls’ relationship and possible insanity playing a key role. Among other things, Parker and Hulme were suspected of lesbianism, which was widely considered to be a mental illness at the time.
This mesmerizing book offers a brilliant account of the crime and ensuing trial and shares dramatic revelations about the fates of the young women after their release from prison. With penetrating insight, this thorough analysis applies modern psychology to analyze the shocking murder that remains one of the most interesting cases of all time. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—1947
• Where—New Zealand
• Education—J.D., Victoria University (New Zealand)
• Currently—lives near Dunsandel, New Zealand
Peter Graham is a New Zealand barrister-turned crime-writer. He received his law degree at New Zealand's Victoria University, after which he worked at a large full-service law firm before moving to Christ Church where he became a Crown Counsel for three decades.
He also spent five years as a prosecutor in Hong Kong, part of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. It was while working as a barrister in Hong Kong that he came across the story that would become his first true crime book, Vile Crimes: The Timaru Poisonings (2007).
Even before heading to Hong Kong, Graham admits that he had wanted to write about the Parker-Hulme case, the subject of his 2011 book So Brilliantly Clever (released as Anne Perry and the Murder of the Century in the U.S. in 2015). Graham has been fascinated by the case ever since the 1970s when he was an assistant to Brian McClelland, who had been junior counsel for Juliet Hulme some twenty-years earlier.
By the time he actually began working on So Brilliantly Clever, Graham had largely retired from legal practice. He and his wife moved to a small farm near Dunsandel, where he spent over three years researching the Parker-Hulme murder for the book.
Apart from writing, Graham says he supervises a few pigs, potters around in a "rather big garden," does a little bit of law and some traveling. He and his wife grow apples on the farm and produce a gold-medal-winning cider. (Based on an article from the Kiwi Blog Crime Watch.)
Book Reviews
A comprehensive, well-researched examination not only of the crime and its aftermath but also of the killers’ lives, from childhood to the present day. A concise yet engaging writer, Graham begins by asking, "What makes one act of murder fascinating, where another is merely sordid or banal?" Sex is an obvious answer, but Graham analyzes this aspect of the case with admirable coolness, resisting the temptation to identify lesbianism—or any other element in the drama—as the prime motivation. Like a punctilious courtroom lawyer, he presents the facts and his analysis, leaving the final verdict to the reader
Anna Mundow - Washington Post
[A] readable and eye-opening story of...one of New Zealand’s most famous murder cases. The book explores not only the murder itself but the backgrounds of the two girls... [and] looks at all sides of the debate around the girls’ motivation for the murder of Pauline’s mother.... [F]or general readers, true-crime buffs, those interested in LGBT history. —Amelia Osterud, Carroll Univ. Lib., Waukesha, WI
Library Journal
A New Zealand lawyer revisits the highly publicized, mysterious case of matricide in his country in 1954. Graham makes the old seem fresh as he tries to explain why teenagers Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme murdered Parker's mother during a walk in a nature area.... A worthy retrospective that feels chilling in the manner of novelist Perry.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
(The following questions were graciously submitted to LitLovers by Angela Scott of the Ligonier Public Library in Ligonier, Indiana. Thank you, Angela!)
1. Why do you think that the murder of Honorah Parker became the fascination of New Zealand?
2. The relationships between the girls and Mrs. Hulme and Ms. Parker were vastly different. Both girls individually had rocky relationships with their mothers but only one parent ended up dead, why do you think this was so?
3. The fathers of both girls were relatively weak-willed when it came to their daughters. Discuss the different relationships with them and do you think the girls would have turned out differently with different parents?
4. There has been much speculation on whether the girls were lesbians or just remarkably close friends, children who were outsiders and clung to each other in need. Anne Perry tried very hard to stress that she was looking for Mister Right, yet neither ever married. Based on this book, what do you think?
5. As the girls said, they were completely MAD. Do you think this was true?
6. What do you think of the tohunga’s (a Maori priestly expert) theory that the girls really did find another dimension and Mrs. Parker’s death was needed as a blood sacrifice to the guardians, even though this was done unconsciously.
7. "Perry has an insight that few crime writers can boast of. Perry committed murder, in 1954. Her intimate knowledge of good and evil has brought literary acclaim," wrote the Times. Do you think this is true and why she became an amazing writer of crime fiction?
8. After reading about the childhood Juliet Hulme experienced, do you have any sympathy for her? Do you feel she ever truly repented? Do you think Pauline Parker regretted it?
(Questions written by Angela Scott. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution to both Angela and LitLovers. Thanks.)
Butterfly Stitching
Shermin Nahid Kruse, 2014
Water Bird Press
367 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780996050203
Summary
Through a stunning tapestry of the horrors of political oppression, terrifying secret police, an inspiring forbidden love, and the realities of war, Butterfly Stitching weaves the tale of a daughter and mother who reveal a side of Iran that has been forbidden to the rest of the world.
Inspired by true stories of Iranian women, Butterfly Stitching is a gripping tale of oppression and redemption, telling the struggles of Sahar, a nine-year-old girl growing up in the chaos and confusion of post-revolution Iran, and Samira, a beautiful woman trying to navigate marriage while being forced to grow up so quickly.
Through the strength, beauty and imagination of these remarkable women, Iran reveals itself. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
Shermin Nahid Kruse spent her early childhood in Iran prior to growing up in Canada. Now an American citizen, Kruse became the youngest female minority to partner at her downtown Chicago firm, Barack Ferrazzano upon obtaining her law degree, cum laude, from the University of Michigan.
Her strong passion for global issues and the arts is reflected in many aspects of her life, including regular contributions to scholarly legal articles and a regular advice column for Chicago Lawyer, to the co-founding of Pasfarda Arts and Cultural Organization, and her wide range of hobbies, including modeling, dancing, painting and photography. (From the author.)
Visit the author's website.
Follow Shermin on Facebook.
Book Reviews
With all there is to laud in Butterfly Stitching, Kruse should be most applauded for her two female main characters, mother Samira and daughter Sahar.... [Her] women are strong. Not the faultless sort of strong. Not the flat sort of strong. The grief-torn, sorrow-weakened, hit-hard-across-the-head-with-reality and yet still just as stubborn sort of strong that is the actual veracity of a female population that is wise and foolish and oppressed and rebellious.... Butterfly Stitching is an ambitious project, capturing the soul and voice of an entire people—and Shermin Kruse succeeds, astoundingly well.
Miceala Shocklee - Los Angeles Examiner.com
Kruse...recreates the Iran of her childhood...incorporating the stories she heard from her mother and grandmother.... [R]eaders should be moved by the raw and painful emotions on display here and the relationship at the heart of the story.... In the world created in these pages, there is hope and even kindness among the despair. —June Sawyers
Booklist
Shermin Kruse's Butterfly Stitching is the gorgeous, intricately woven narrative of two heart-strong women who show us the beauty of ritual and custom as they clash with crisis and oppression in an old-world order. It is a rich, true-love tapestry.
Theresa Schwegel - Edgar award winning author of The Good Boy
Butterfly Stitching is a simply stunning novel and a beautifully written, in depth account of what it means to be a woman growing up and maturing in Iran. Touching, profound and at times shocking, you cannot fail to be moved by Butterfly Stitching and I cannot recommend it highly enough— the stories of Sahar and Samira will stay with me for a long time to come.
Karen Perkins - Bestselling author of Thores-Cross & The Valkyrie Series
Startling and innovative, Butterfly Stitching could be called Love in the Time of Morality Police. In an Iran few in the West have seen, Kruse's deft narrative is two women's stories of love and lost innocence. The reader, too loses innocence as we better understand the conflicting pulls of love and obligation, faith and individuality. Terrifying from the first. Compelling to the last.
Robert Chazz Chute - Author of This Plague of Days
Discussion Questions
1. What was your first initial response to the book? What could you relate to? Can you make connections to other texts you have read? Think of the plot, setting, conflicts, characters, and themes.
2. How did you experience the book and its various perspectives and formats? Did you find the shifts in character perspective, timeline, and format effective? Why do you think the author does this? Consider the following: Part I is written from Sahar’s perspective and Part II from Samira’s perspective, but both parts are written in the third-person close, not the first person. Part III, the author switches to a screenplay format.
3. Is the plot engaging—does the story interest you? Were you surprised by the plot's complications?
4. Describe the main characters—personality traits, motivations, inner qualities. Are their actions justified? How and why do the characters change? Which features reveal complexity within characters?
5. What are the main and minor conflicts? What causes them? Consider both external and internal conflicts. How are these conflicts resolved?
6. What main ideas—themes—does the author explore? In what way is this theme developed? E.g. human nature, the nature of society, human freedom, moral conflicts, etc.
7. Examine the symbols within the story. Most importantly, what does the headscarf and butterfly stitching represent? Are there archetypal characters (characters who represent a type or group who hold similar characteristics)? Are places or settings used symbolically?
8. Consider style and figurative language. What passages strike you as insightful, even profound? What dialogue do you think is poignant or that encapsulates a character? Is there a particular comment that states the book's thematic concerns?
9. Is the ending satisfying? If so, why? If not, why not...and how would you change it? If you could ask the author a question, what would it be?
10. Has this novel changed you—broadened your perspective? Have you learned something new or been exposed to different ideas about Iran, Iranian people and culture? Have you learned something new about Islam?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
A Fall of Marigolds
Susan Meissner, 2014
Penguin Books
400 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451419910
Summary
A beautiful scarf, passed down through the generations, connects two women who learn that the weight of the world is made bearable by the love we give away....
September 1911. On Ellis Island in New York Harbor, nurse Clara Wood cannot face returning to Manhattan, where the man she loved fell to his death in the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.
Then, while caring for a fevered immigrant whose own loss mirrors hers, she becomes intrigued by a name embroidered onto the scarf he carries…and finds herself caught in a dilemma that compels her to confront the truth about the assumptions she’s made. Will what she learns devastate her or free her?
September 2011. On Manhattan’s Upper West Side, widow Taryn Michaels has convinced herself that she is living fully, working in a charming specialty fabric store and raising her daughter alone. Then a long-lost photograph appears in a national magazine, and she is forced to relive the terrible day her husband died in the collapse of the World Trade Towers…the same day a stranger reached out and saved her.
Will a chance reconnection and a century-old scarf open Taryn’s eyes to the larger forces at work in her life?. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 9, 1961
• Where—San Diego, California, USA
• Education—Point Loma Nazarene University
• Currently—lives in San Diego, California
Susan Meissner is an American writer born and raised in San Diego, California. She began her literary career at the age of eight and since then has published more than a dozen novels (though that part came a bit later in her life).
Early years and career
Susan attended Point Loma Nazarene University, married a U.S. Air Force man, raised four children, and spent five years overseas and several more in Minnesota. Those were the years she put her novel-writing itch on hold. In 1995, however, she took a part-time reporting job at her county newspaper, became a columnist three years later, and eventually editor of a local weekly paper. One of the things she is most proud of that her paper was named the Best Weekly Paper in Minnesota in 2002.
That was the same year Susan's latent novel-writing itch resurfaced, and she began working on her first novel, Why the Sky is Blue. In a little more than a year, the book was written, published, and in the bookstores. She's been noveling ever since—with a string of 12 books under her name. Historical Fiction is one of her favorite genres.
Booklist placed A Fall of Marigolds on its "Top Ten" list of women's fiction for 2014. In 2008, Publishers Weekly named The Shape of Mercy as one of the year's 100 Best Novels.
Personal
Susan lives with her husband and four children in San Diego where her husband is a pastor and Air Force Reserves chaplain. She teaches in writing workshops. In addition to writing books, she enjoys spending time with her family, making and listening to music, reading, and traveling. (Based on the author's website.)
Books
2016 - Stars Over Sunset Boulevard
2015 - Secrets of a Charmed Life
2014 - A Fall of Marigolds
2013 - The Girl in the Glass
2011 - A Sound Among the Trees
2010 - Lady in Waiting
2009 - White Picket Fences
2008 - The Shape of Mercy
2008 - Blue Heart Blessed
2006 - A Seahorse in the Thames
2006 - In All Deep Places
2005 - The Remedy for Regret
2003 - Why the Sky is Blue
Book Reviews
(Starred Review.) Meissner’s...[novel] hits all of the right emotional notes without overdoing the two tragedies; instead, she seamlessly weaves a connection between two women whose broken hearts have left them in an in-between place. A good choice for Christian-fiction readers, for book groups, or for readers looking for a book of hope without schmaltz. —Susan Maguire
Library Journal
Meissner is a practiced writer whose two main characters cope with universal themes that many people deal with: loss, survivor's guilt, and permitting oneself to move on and achieve happiness again. Although their stories are unbalanced--Clara's account dominates the narrative--the author creates two sympathetic, relatable characters that readers will applaud. Touching and inspirational.
Kirkus Reviews
Discussion Questions
Spoiler Alert: The questions that follow tell more about what happens in the book than you might want
to know until you read it.
1. What did you most enjoy about A Fall of Marigolds? What do you think you’ll remember about it six months from now?
2. Discuss the ways in which the contemporary and historical sections of the novel relate to each other. What story elements do they share? How do they echo and amplify each other? Did you enjoy going back and forth between the two narratives, or did you much prefer one over the other?
3. When Clara Wood finds Lily’s letter to Andrew and the certificate of annulment, she faces an ethical dilemma—should she tell Andrew the truth about the woman he loved and break his heart, or leave him in ignorance? What would be the most ethical choice? What would you have done?
4. Have you ever gone to, or wanted to go to, an “in-between place”? Would you share that experience?
5. Despite the little interaction they had, Clara is convinced that Edward would have become her lover and eventually her husband. Have you ever experienced a similar certainty about someone after just meeting them? Do you believe in “love at first sight?”
6. Ten years after her husband’s death, Taryn seems to be living a full life, but once her photo is published, she begins to realize that she has also been in an “in-between place.” How has she been held back? How are her circumstances similar to and different from Clara’s?
7. Discuss the role of the marigold scarf in the story. Trace its path from Lily to Taryn. How does the scarf enrich the experience of the characters? Would you react to the scarf in the same way that the characters do?
8. Andrew plays a key role in Clara’s life. Is it okay with you that she doesn’t end up in a romantic relationship with him? Does Ethan seem a better or worse choice to you? The book ends with Taryn and Mick heading toward a romantic relationship. Do you find that believable and satisfying?
9. Taryn and Clara each experience a horrific tragic event in which someone they love dies. Have you ever been personally touched by tragedy? Would you be willing to share how your experience compares to what Taryn and Clara go through?
10. Do you believe in destiny? That God has a purpose for each of our lives? Discuss how these ideas play out in A Fall of Marigolds.
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
Secrets of a Charmed Life
Susan Meissner, 2015
Penguin Books
416 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780451419927
Summary
During World War II England, two sisters are separated by the chaos of wartime.
She stood at a crossroads, half-aware that her choice would send her down a path from which there could be no turning back. But instead of two choices, she saw only one—because it was all she really wanted to see...
Current day, Oxford, England. Young American scholar Kendra Van Zant, eager to pursue her vision of a perfect life, interviews Isabel McFarland just when the elderly woman is ready to give up secrets about the war that she has kept for decades...beginning with who she really is. What Kendra receives from Isabel is both a gift and a burden—one that will test her convictions and her heart.
1940s, England...
As Hitler wages an unprecedented war against London’s civilian population, hundreds of thousands of children are evacuated to foster homes in the rural countryside. But even as fifteen-year-old Emmy Downtree and her much younger sister Julia find refuge in a charming Cotswold cottage, Emmy’s burning ambition to return to the city and apprentice with a fashion designer pits her against Julia’s profound need for her sister’s presence.
Acting at cross purposes just as the Luftwaffe rains down its terrible destruction, the sisters are cruelly separated, and their lives are transformed. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—January 9, 1961
• Where—San Diego, California, USA
• Education—Point Loma Nazarene University
• Currently—lives in San Diego, California
Susan Meissner is an American writer born and raised in San Diego, California. She began her literary career at the age of eight and since then has published more than a dozen novels (though that part came a bit later in her life).
Early years and career
Susan attended Point Loma Nazarene University, married a U.S. Air Force man, raised four children, and spent five years overseas and several more in Minnesota. Those were the years she put her novel-writing itch on hold. In 1995, however, she took a part-time reporting job at her county newspaper, became a columnist three years later, and eventually editor of a local weekly paper. One of the things she is most proud of that her paper was named the Best Weekly Paper in Minnesota in 2002.
That was the same year Susan's latent novel-writing itch resurfaced, and she began working on her first novel, Why the Sky is Blue. In a little more than a year, the book was written, published, and in the bookstores. She's been noveling ever since—with a string of 12 books under her name. Historical Fiction is one of her favorite genres.
Booklist placed A Fall of Marigolds on its "Top Ten" list of women's fiction for 2014. In 2008, Publishers Weekly named The Shape of Mercy as one of the year's 100 Best Novels.
Personal
Susan lives with her husband and four children in San Diego where her husband is a pastor and Air Force Reserves chaplain. She teaches in writing workshops. In addition to writing books, she enjoys spending time with her family, making and listening to music, reading, and traveling. (Based on the author's website.)
Books
2016 - Stars Over Sunset Boulevard
2015 - Secrets of a Charmed Life
2014 - A Fall of Marigolds
2013 - The Girl in the Glass
2011 - A Sound Among the Trees
2010 - Lady in Waiting
2009 - White Picket Fences
2008 - The Shape of Mercy
2008 - Blue Heart Blessed
2006 - A Seahorse in the Thames
2006 - In All Deep Places
2005 - The Remedy for Regret
2003 - Why the Sky is Blue
Book Reviews
[A] young history student hop[es] to interview a survivor of the Blitz.... Despite some structural awkwardness...[the] novel is rich with vividly drawn characters, places, and events, and its themes of reinvention and redemption will strike a chord with readers. —Quinn, Mary Ellen
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. What did you enjoy most about Secrets of a Charmed Life? What do you think will stay with you?
2. Would you describe Secrets of a Charmed Life as a story about sisters or a story about mothers and daughters?
3. Discuss the secrets that the characters keep from one another. What facts does Annie hide from her daughters and why? What do Emmy and Julia not tell the men they eventually marry? What secret does Charlotte keep? How do these secrets impact the characters’ lives? Are there other secrets in the book?
4. How is this book different than other books you’ve read about World War 2?
5. Describing Emmy, the author wrote, “She stood at a crossroads, half-aware that her choice would send her down a path from which there could be no turning back. But instead of two choices, she saw only the one—because it was all she really wanted to see.” Has there ever been a time when you couldn’t see the choices open to you until much later?
6. Later in her life, Julia writes in her journal: “Fear does not start to fade until you take the step that you think you can’t.” Do you agree? What was Julia afraid of when she wrote this?
7. How similar or dissimilar were Emmy and her mother? Did Emmy have an accurate view of the kind of person her mother was?
8. Isabel tells Kendra that there are no secrets to charmed life. There is only the task of forgiving ourselves for only being able to make our own choices, and no one else’s? What do you think she meant by this?
9. What did the sketches of brides’ dresses represent to Emmy?
10. What were Emmy’s reasons for choosing to remain Isabel throughout her adult life? Would you have done the same?
11. On one level, the novel is about losing something very precious. What’s the most precious thing you’ve ever lost? What were the consequences?
12. Have you ever lived through a time of war or social chaos, even to a small degree? How does your experience compare with what Emmy and Julia went through?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)
A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers
Hazel Gaynor, 2015
HarperCollins
432 pp.
ISBN-13: 9780062316899
Summary
An unforgettable historical novel. Step into the world of Victorian London, where the wealth and poverty exist side by side. This is the story of two long-lost sisters, whose lives take different paths, and the young woman who will be transformed by their experiences.
In 1912, twenty-year-old Tilly Harper leaves the peace and beauty of her native Lake District for London, to become assistant housemother at Mr. Shaw’s Home for Watercress and Flower Girls. For years, the home has cared for London’s flower girls—orphaned and crippled children living on the grimy streets and selling posies of violets and watercress to survive.
Soon after she arrives, Tilly discovers a diary written by an orphan named Florrie—a young Irish flower girl who died of a broken heart after she and her sister, Rosie, were separated.
Moved by Florrie’s pain and all she endured in her brief life, Tilly sets out to discover what happened to Rosie. But the search will not be easy. Full of twists and surprises, it leads the caring and determined young woman into unexpected places, including the depths of her own heart. (From the publisher.)
Author Bio
• Birth—May 16, 1971
• Where—Yorkshire, England, UK
• Education—B.A., Manchester Metropolitan University
• Award—Cecil Day Lewis Award for Emerging Writers
• Currently—lives in County Kildare, Ireland
Hazel Gaynor is an author and freelance writer in Ireland and the UK and was the recipient of the Cecil Day Lewis Award for Emerging Writers. The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic is her first novel. Her second novel, published in 2015, is A Memory of Violets: A Novel of London's Flower Sellers.
Hazel is a regular guest blogger and features writer for national Irish writing website for which she has interviewed authors such as Philippa Gregory, Sebastian Faulks, Cheryl Strayed, and Mary Beth Keane.
Hazel has appeared on TV and radio and her writing has been featured in the Irish Times and the Sunday Times Magazine. Originally from Yorkshire, England, Hazel now lives in Ireland with her husband, two young children and an accident-prone cat. (From the author.)
Visit the author's webpage.
Follow Hazel on Facebook.
Book Reviews
Given the awards she has already received, we are sure to hear much more from Hazel Gaynor-and that is a good thing.
New York Journal of Books
All of the loose ends come together in a satisfying, understandable ending. Gaynor has written a masterpiece of a story, one that will linger long in the memory of readers.
Jo Ann Mathews - Mrytle Beach Sun News
Gaynor’s talent for evoking a time and place, as well as her ability to write a beautifully heart-wrenching story with realistic characters, enables her to touch readers. The unexpected twists and turns of the plot and jumping of timelines holds readers’ attention to the satisfying climax (4 stars).
RT Book Reviews
Historical details and the unique perspective of penniless, physically challenged young girls could make Gaynor’s second historical novel a good book club choice. A tidy ending and sweet romance will satisfy readers hoping to exhale a long, contented sigh as they finish the last page.
Library Journal
Gaynor once again brings history to life. With intriguing characters and a deeply absorbing story, her latest is a fascinating examination of one city’s rich history and the often forgotten people who lived in it.
Booklist
Discussion Questions
1. The role of the "little mother" was very common among London’s poor, with the eldest siblings (often no older than six or seven years themselves) taking responsibility for younger sisters and brothers. What was your response to reading about Flora’s life and her relationship with Rosie? What are your thoughts about the lives of child street sellers in Victorian England?
2. The unique relationship between sisters is explored throughout the novel. To what extent do the relationships between Tilly and Esther, and Florrie and Rosie differ? Are there any ways in which they are similar?
3. Marguerite Ingram is determined to raise Violette as her own child. Do you think she is justified in her conviction that this is the best thing for the child? Is she right to keep the truth from Violette for so many years?
4. While Tilly’s mother cannot find love for her in the same way she does for Esther, Marguerite loves Violette almost instantly. Why is this? How have their experiences of motherhood influenced the two women’s emotions?
5. The novel is written in alternating periods, Tilly’s story in 1912 and that of Florrie, Rosie/Violette, and Marguerite from the late 1800s. In what ways do the two story lines reflect each other and in what ways do they differ?
6. One of the main themes of the novel is forgiveness. Do you think Violette should forgive Marguerite for hiding the truth about her past? Should Tilly be forgiven for her feelings toward Esther? Should Esther forgive Tilly for the accident? Should Tilly forgive her step-mother for her feelings toward her?
7. There are many other themes in the novel—second chances, hope, family bonds, overcoming adversity. Which themes resonated with you the most?
8. Disability was very much a hidden or ignored part of society in Victorian London. The Flower Homes and the orphanage were pioneering approaches to assisting those who were disadvantaged. Now that you have read the novel, what are your thoughts about attitudes toward disability in Victorian England? How have attitudes toward disability changed?
9. The language of flowers was well known among the Victorians, and the flowers hidden within Florrie’s journal convey very specific messages and emotions. What are your thoughts about the "language of flowers"?
10. Landscape plays a large part in the storytelling of the novel, with the settings moving from the cramped streets of London to the mountains of the Lake District and the open seascapes of Clacton. How do these landscapes reflect the emotions of the characters?
11. Through flower making, the girls and women of the Flower Homes were given a way out of hardship and a way to become independent. Why did Albert Shaw insist on the girls working for a living, rather than simply providing them with charity?
(Questions issued by the publisher.)