The Husband’s Secret, By Liane Moriarty

Characters
Cecilia and John-Paul Fitzpatrick Isabel, Esther and Polly - daughters Bridget – Cecilia’s younger sister Virginia – John-Paul’s mother Rachel Crowley – school secretary Janie – deceased daughter Rob – son Lauren – Rob’s wife Jacob – son Connor Whitby – PE teacher Trudy McDuff – school principal	Tess and Will Curtis Liam – son Felicity – Tess’s best friend Lucy O’Leary – Tess’s mother Father - divorced Mary and Phil – Felicity’s parents Mary and Lucy are twins Sergeant Rodney Bellach

For discussion:

NOTE: All of the pages are from the hardback edition.

1. Would a principal like Trudy McDuff be effective in today’s environment?  Was she a good principal for an elementary school?
2. Discuss Tess and Felicity’s friendship. 
1. Felicity was always dominating Tess and was more socially comfortable.  Do you think Tess would have been more comfortable with others if she had not done everything with Felicity?  
2. Tess self-diagnosed herself with social anxiety.  Was this the case?   
3. Also, when Felicity was overweight, Tess used her to boost her ego.   Was this fair?
4. Was this a true friendship? 
5. When you read the Epilogue, were you surprised the friendship survived?

3. Did you think it was appropriate for Mary and Phil (Felicity’s parents) to visit Tess to talk after they knew that their daughter was in love with Will?
4. Can you understand and forgive Tess for having a brief affair with Connor?  Would she have done so if she had not been so traumatized by Will and Felicity?  Do you think she ever told Will?  Should she have told?
5. Do you think Rachel should have been more attuned to Rob’s feelings about Janie?  Was that even possible?  (See end of chapter 24 when Rob asked to go along to the park on the anniversary of Janie’s death, pages 197-198.)
1. Also, at the end of chapter 3, Rachel reflected that she thought what happened to Janie should have made her love Rob more, but in reality, it did not.  Why?
6. What did you think about Lauren, Rob’s wife?   Did Rachel even give her a chance?
7. How well did the author seem to understand people’s emotions such as guilt (John-Paul), betrayal (Cecilia and Tess), mourning (Rachel and Rob), guest for redemption (John-Paul). 
8. Several people lied, or did not tell what they knew, in the story such as Connor’s mother (said she was home with him on night of murder when in fact she was out drinking) and John-Paul’s mother who recognized her rosary but did not tell anyone.  Did you understand their reasoning?
9. Discuss how John-Paul had tried to make up for killing Janie – by giving up anything that gave him pleasure and by going many good things for the community.  Does one bad act define a whole life?  What about one good act?
10. What is happening at the very end of chapter 30?  Why is information about Lucy and her husband, Andrew, immediately following information about the Berlin Wall?
11. Is there a connection between the Berlin Wall and the story?  Would any other historical event work as effectively?
12. Why was the TV show, “The Biggest Loser,” featured so prominently at the beginning of the novel?  Would this date and book and limit its appeal for future generations?  Do you think this book will stand the test of time?
13. Would you have opened the letter?  Why or why not?
14. What do you think Cecilia should have done once she knew what happened?
15. Do Janie’s health problems absolve John-Paul?
16. After Polly’s accident, Cecilia was looking for someone to blame (end of last chapter, page 389).  She felt her decision to “sacrifice Rachel Crowley for her family had led to this moment in this hospital room.”  Do you think she was at fault?  Who is to blame for Polly’s accident?
17. Did John-Paul “pay” for murdering Janie through Polly’s accident?  On page 388 Cecilia thought, “He was responsible for Rachel Crowley’s foot on the accelerator.”  Was Cecilia to blame because she did not turn John-Paul in once she knew the truth?
18. Do you think Rachel will ever turn John-Paul into the police?
19. I particularly liked the first and last sentences: “It was all because of the Berlin Wall” and “So it began.”  Did you like the writing in the book?
1. Other sentences I particularly liked are the following:

                                                               i.      Page 38 – Describing Rachel’s interaction with Laruen: “A steady stream of suggestions ran silently through her head like those snippets of news that ran along the bottom of the TV on CNN.”

                                                             ii.      Page 243 (my favorite) – “All these years there had been a Tupperware container of bad language sitting off to the side in her head, and now she’d opened it and all those crisp, crunchy words were lovely and fresh, ready to use.”

20. Did you like the Epilogue that told you what might have happened if things had been different?  Was it a satisfying ending?

*****First Semester Success, 2nd edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available as an eBook and hard copy from amazon.com and a hard copy from wordassociation.com.