|
Characters |
|
|
2011 |
1911 |
|
Taryn Kent –
husband, died in 9/11 Kendal –
daughter Heirloom Yard Celine –
owner Mick
Demetriou – florist, helped Taryn on 9/11 Rosalynn
Stauer- owned scarf in 2011, asked Taryn to pick it up on 9/11 making her
late Corrine –
cousin |
Clara Wood -
nurse Father –
doctor Mother Henrietta –
sister Dolly McLeod
– friend Edward Brim –
died in Triangle Shirtwaist fire Savina
Mayfield - finance Andrew Gwynn
- Ellis Island, scarlet fever Nigel –
brother, tailor in New York Lily – wife,
scarlet fever, died on ship Dr. Ethan
Randall – intern, Ellis Island Chester
Hartwell – private investigator Eleanor –
Rosalynn Stauer’s aunt, worked with Clara in Switzerland in 1911 |
For
Discussion:
NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition.
1.
Both Clara and Taryn felt they had caused the
deaths of Kent and Edward by asking them to meet on the morning of the two
tragedies. Should they feel guilty? How would you feel? Did Mick and Ethan Randall offer good
explanations about why they should not feel that way? For example, Mick told Taryn that her
“choices that terrible morning had been prompted by love. What others had chosen had been prompted by
hate” (page 329).
2.
Was Clara realistic in her feelings for Edward,
given that she had never really had a conversation with him? On page 132 she thought, “Eternity already
knew us as a couple.” Was it realistic
that she felt grief for such a long time?
3.
Dolly knew Edward was engaged but couldn’t tell
Clara just like Clara knew Lily was deceiving Andrew but couldn’t tell
him. What do you think they each should
have done with the information they had?
What would you had done or advised the character to do?
4.
When Clara verbalized to Dolly that she
regretted opening the trunk, Dolly replied, “You were meant to open that trunk,
Clara…What if fate wanted you to open it…” (page 135). Do you agree?
Does fate play a part here?
5.
Was Dr. Randall too forward when he was asking
Clara about why she was on the island and had not left in 6 months? He told her, “You’re keeping it [her grief]
alive by staying here” (page 189). Was
it any of his business?
6.
The author wrote a lot about being in an
“in-between place.”
a. Andrew
– page 47 – Clara wanted to be “the angel-nurse who helped Andrew find his way
out of his in-between place.”
b. Clara
– page 85 – the island had its “role as an in-between place where the fire did
not exist.”
c. Taryn
– page 91 – after her picture was published in the magazine she thought, “I
knew my flimsy truce with chance and destiny was gone. That in-between place
had never really existed.”
d. Are
we currently all in an in-between place during this pandemic?
7.
There were many serious topics in this
novel. Did reading it give you any new
insights or prompt you to think of something in a different way?
a. Page
324: “Do you think everything happens for a reason?”
b. Page
328: Taryn realizes she “had the power of choice…”
c. Page
329: “I hadn’t understood the beauty of this freedom to love until I began to
understand, at the very moment, that it was countered by the freedom to hate.”
d. Description
of grief in both Taryn and Clara.
8.
Given the pandemic we are currently
experiencing, what did you think about the description of scarlet fever: “…the
disease has no intent. It doesn’t want
anything. It has no malevolent desire to
kill.” (page 111) and “The disease is like a machine that does what it does but
has no cognizance of self” (page 112).
9.
Did you like the ending? Did it take you awhile to figure out who
Eleanor was and how she fit into the story?
10.
Discuss your reading experience. Was the novel what you expected or something
different? Would you recommend it to a
friend? Why or why not?
11.
Do you think this would be a good novel for
someone to read who was in the midst of grief?
Why or why not?
****
First Semester Success, 2nd Edition, by Dr. Arden B. Hamer, is available at amazon.com and wordassociation.com.
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