Book Club / reading group questions

Book Club questions are now included here for four of my historical novels! (More coming soon for The Lost Memories and the Hidden Letters.)

A few readers have been in touch asking for book club questions, which is so lovely of you, so it makes sense to put them here. I’m chuffed to pieces if you’ve chosen one of my novels for your next group read. Here’s some questions to help prompt discussion.

SPOILER ALERT! DO NOT READ THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS IF YOU’VE NOT YET FINISHED READING!

The Dressmaker’s Secret

1. Discuss how much you agree or disagree with the statement Coco Chanel was a Nazi.

2. Having read the novel and seen the world through Adèle’s eyes, do you think she was right or wrong to stay working for Chanel? If it had been you, what sort of choice do you think you may have had in that time and place?

3. How much do you think being an orphan overshadowed elements of Adèle’s adult life?

4. Chloé in the modern sections of the book, takes a gap year in order to find out more about herself and her grandmother, as well as reassessing her relationship to her ex husband. To what extent do you think she made good decisions during her Parisian stay?

The Girl From the Island

1. The history surrounding the Occupation of the Channel Islands never fails to astound me. Which particular pieces of historical fact included in the novel were the most astonishing for you and why?

 2. Would you have stayed or would you have been one of the ones to leave? There’s no wrong answer to this because it all depends on personal circumstance and of course…hindsight (and knowing the Germans were going to Occupy the islands) wasn’t available to the Channel Islanders.

 3. What lengths would you have gone to, to survive and feed your family? Are you more like Dido, Percy or Jack? The sky’s the limit or toe the line?

 4. What did you think of the way Percy handled the landlady with regard to Liese? And indeed, what did you think of the way Percy handled the Liese situation in general?

The Forgotten Village

1. Melissa knows she'd have 'clopped Bertie round the head and done a runner,' or something to that effect! But put yourself in Veronica's shoes. She's a victim of both her gender and the time in which she lives. What would you have done differently to Veronica at the time - especially compared to what you could do now? 

2. I tried to make Bertie a man who has grown up driven by jealousy of Freddie which, eventually drives him to do very bad things. To what extent do you think he is entirely bad and did you identify any redeemable features? 

3. And on that back of this, young Anna finds herself in the wrong place at the wrong time, or the right place at the right time however you look at it. Although she saves Veronica, she regrets killing someone. Do you think this 'murder' was justified? Why/why not? 

THE FORBIDDEN PROMISE

1. Do you think Constance could have done more to protect Matthew? Did she try hard enough to help him throughout the novel? Why/Why not?

2. What would you have done if you’d been asked to hide a downed airman?

3. Did you feel sympathetic towards James? That he’d tried his hardest but still needed Kate’s help? Or did he have his head in the sand?

4. Did Constance’s desire for independence and to do something greater for the war resonate with you?

5. Did her departure from the house and the reasons this was brought about shock or dismay you?