Girl Waits with Gun, by Ann Stewart

 

Characters
Real People - 1914	Fictional
Kopp Family: Parents - deceased Constance Norma Fleurette Francis - brother Bessie- wife   Henry Kaufman   Sheriff Heath Cordelia – wife   George Ewing   John Ward – Kaufman’s lawyer, ordered photographs at Kaufmann’s request   Newspaper articles and letters	Lucy Blake and baby son, Bobby   Marion Garfinkel – Henry’s sister   Henri LaMotte – collects evidence   Mrs. Florence’s County Home for Friendless and Erring Women

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from paperback edition.

1.       What did you think about how Fleurette was raised, kept away from everyone including public school?  Was that realistic for the times?

2.       Why did Fleurette turn out so differently than her sisters, Norma and Constance? 

3.       From the Acknowledgements it seems that the secret of Fleurette’s birth was kept from everyone, including her, for a very long time.    Was that fair to her?  Would this same situation happen today?

4.       Were you surprised that her mother did not want Constance to be found and forbid Francis from asking around to find her?  She was sure that “whatever the reason for my disappearance, it had to be something shameful, something not to be spoken of, even with the rest of the family” (page 117).  Years later Constance’s uncles still thought she had “enrolled in a secretarial college in Philadelphia” (page 117).  Do you think this was normal for the times?

5.       Should Constance have been suspicious of the Singer Sewing Machine salesman and not fallen into his trap?   All her mother had told her was to “never sit alone on a divan with a man” (page 107).   Should she have been better educated?

6.       Constance was not hired as a detective for Wanamaker’s Department Store because she was too tall and would not blend in with the customers.   Would she have been successful as a store detective? 

7.       Did you like the organization of the book, switching between the current case and the family history?

8.       When this book was published in 2015 it won numerous honors such as being named one of NPR’s Best Books of 2015.   Why do you think it was so honored?  Do you think it deserved all of the recognition?

9.       For you, how did the book compare with others in the historical fiction genre?

10.   Do you want to read the next book in the series?