The Secrets We Kept, by Lara Prescott

 

East

West

Olga Vsevolodovna Ivinskaya (Olya) – incarcerated 3 years, after that became Pasternak’s business emissary Ira – daughter Mitya – son Mother   Boris Pasternak (Borya) 1958 – Awarded the Nobel Prize, forced to turn it down 1989 – Re-awarded Nobel Prize Zinaida - wife   Lubyanka: Anatoli Sergeyevich Semionov – Olga’s guard   Giangiacomo Feltrinelli – Italian publisher Sergio D’Angelo – Italian literary agent

Irina Drozdova Mother – seamstress Father – arrested, died in Gulag   The Typists: Betty – former OSS Virginia – former OSS Gail Carter – engineering degree, black Kathy Norma Kelly – married Teddy, wrote spy novel   Soviet Russian Division (SR): ·       Walter Anderson – oversaw typing pool, former OSS ·       Frank Wisner -founded agency’s clandestine ops, ·       Sally Forrester – “The Swallow,” became Lenore Miller in 1958 after dismissed from SR ·       Teddy Helms – trainer, went to England to get book in original Russian ·       Henry Rennet – ruined Sally’s reputation, Sally had him killed

 

For Discussion:

Note: Page numbers are from the hardback edition.

1.       The author wrote that many people involved in intelligence came to work at the Agency after they retired from the field because, for one reason, they missed “the power that came from being a keeper of secrets” (page 59).   Can you understand this?  How do you feel when you are entrusted with a secret?

 

2.       Discuss the character of Irina.  Why did she have trouble fitting into the typing pool?  Irina wondered if her “feeling of being a constant outsider, of being more comfortable alone” was picked up by the group (page 117).

 

3.       The author wrote that “the politics of friendship are tricky at every age” (page 117).  What did the author mean by this?  How did she support this statement through the various characters in the novel?

 

4.       Were you surprised that Irina liked her new role as a carrier as much as she did?  She thought that “For the first time in my life, I felt as if I had a greater purpose, not just a job” (page 116).   Why did this work suit her?  Could you do that type of work?

 

5.       What did you think about the subplot of the relationship between Sally and Irina?  Did it add to the novel?  Did you like the ending?

 

6.       Discuss the character of Henry:

a.       In Chapter 15, why did Henry attack Sally?  Did the people in the Agency really not care about her?

b.       Who were the people at Sara’s Dry Cleaning in Washington, DC?  What happened to Henry after Sally gave them his name?

c.       Was he really a double agent?

 

7.       Did the Italian publisher fully understand how the publishing of Doctor Zhivago put Pasternak in danger?  Was it his duty to publish the novel?

 

8.       Discuss the novel, Doctor Zhivago:

a.       When Sally finally read the book in 1958, she thought that it was not a weapon, but a love story (page 302). 

b.       The Agency thought is was a weapon.  They valued it because of the “critiques of the October Revolution and its so-called subversive nature” (page 131).

c.       What do you think after reading The Secrets We Kept?

 

9.       Discuss the power of books in general:

a.       The Agency saw “books as weapons” and thought that “literature could change the course of history” (page 130).  Do you agree?

b.       Have you read any books you thought could have changed the world?  That changed you?

 

10.   Would you be willing to smuggle a banned book into America like the Russians did after the World’s Fair?

 

11.   How did you like the organization of the book?  Did it take you a while to determine that chapters were narrated by different people?  Did you like the way the author crossed our previous identities and added new ones?

 

12.   Did this book influence you to want to read Dr. Zhivago? 

Nineteen Minutes, by Jodi Picoult

 

Characters
Alex Cormier – superior court judge Josie – daughter   Matt Roystson – Josie’s boyfriend   Lacy Houghton – midwife Peter – alleged shooter Lewis – husband, economics of happiness Joey – first son, deceased   Derek Markowitz – Peter’s only friend   Patrick Ducharme – policeman Tara Frost – goddaughter Nina – friend, Tara’s mother   Dr. Guenther Frankenstein – medical examiner   Jordan McAfee – Peter’s attorney Selena – wife, investigator Sam – baby Thomas – son by first marriage, in college   Dr. Erwin Peabody – psychology professor   Dr. King Wah – forensic psychiatrist, battered woman syndrome   Diana Leven - prosecutor	Victims
	Deceased: Matt Royston - only one shot twice Mr. McCabe – math teacher Courtney Ignatio Maddie Shaw Whit Obermeyer Topher McPhee Grace Murtaugh Kaitlyn Harvey Unnamed black student Unnamed white student   19 students wounded

 

For Discussion:

NOTE: Page numbers are from the paperback edition.

1.       What were your thoughts on the dilemma faced by parents of a child who had done something terrible?  Did the author portray the reactions of Peter’s family so that you were able to sympathize with them? Is it possible to love child and hate what they did?

2.       Do you think there was anything they could or should have done differently when raising Peter?  Would anything have made a difference?

3.       Peter felt that his mother had not understood him for 17 years (page 125).  If he had felt more loved and accepted by his parents, would it have made a difference in the outcome of the story?

4.       What effect did Peter’s older brother, Joey, and his place in the family have on Peter?  Joey was killed by a drunk driver, but it also was mentioned on page 286 that he had been doing drugs.

5.       Peter told Jordan that Joey was the one who started the bullying.  When Jordan asked if Joey had stood up for Peter when he was being bullied, Peter replied, “Are you kidding?  Joey was the one to start it” (page 186).  Why would Joey do that?

6.       Most people also wanted to blame Peter’s parents for what Peter did.  Did they deserve any of the blame?  Could they have prevented what happened?

7.       What did you think about Lewis Houghton taking flowers to the graves of the victims instead of visiting Peter in jail?

8.       After Peter was arrested, a pregnant woman refused to have Lacy be her midwife. Did you understand her hesitancy?  Would you have wanted Lacy as your midwife after her son was arrested?

9.       Alex was raised by her father after her mother died when she was five.  Her father, who was also a judge, “never held her on his lap, never kissed her good night, never told her he loved her” (page 169).  How did this influence Alex’s parenting?   Was there any way she could have better connected with Josie?

10.   Discuss being popular.  Josie questioned Matt about why he tortured the less popular kids, and he replied “if there isn’t a them, there can’t be an us” (page 219).  Josie reflected, “You did what you had to, to cement your place in the pecking order.  And the best way to stay on top was to step on someone else to get there” (page 219).

11.   Were you surprised that Alex ended up with Patrick when he was the one who figured out that Josie shot Matt?  Do you think Josie would have confessed if Patrick had not figured it out? 

12.   Why do you think Josie shot him? 

13.   What did you think about the school’s reaction to bullying?  When Selena interviewed the principal, he said “We’re completely on top of it” and “if the administration intervenes, it makes it worse for the kid who’s being bullied” (page 271).  When asked on the witness stand to read what teachers were supposed to about bulling as written in the school’s two-page bully policy, Coach Spears could find not specific instructions about what to do (page 380).  What do you think schools can do about this problem?

14.   Discuss Lewis’ research into happiness.   It seems his findings evolved as the story progressed:

a.       To improve your reality, lower your expectations (page 28)

b.       Happiness equals reality divided by expectation (page 129)

c.       Expectation divided by reality equals hope (page 131)

How do these findings relate to the characters in the novel?  Who was happy?

 

15.   How well did the author portray the various feelings and emotions of the characters?  Did reading this book lead you to think about anything differently?  Did you gain any insights that you had not thought about before?