Book club questions
THE BIRDCAGE
Some secrets need to be set free...
Half-sisters Lauren, Kat and Flora share a famous artist father - and a terrible secret. Over the years they’ve grown into wildly different lives. But an unexpected summons to Rock Point, the remote and windswept Cornish house where they once sat for their father’s celebrated portrait, Girls and Birdcage - and they spent their childhood summers - reunites them.
When the sisters arrive at Rock Point, it is clear they are not alone. Someone is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move. Someone who remembers what they did…
Discussion Questions
THE GLASS HOUSE / THE DAUGHTERS OF FOXCOTE MANOR
An isolated forest estate. A family with a terrible secret. The discovery that changes everything.
Rita is nanny to the glamorous Harrington family’s two children. A small-town girl raised by her grandmother, she fell in love with the seemingly perfect London family. Then tragedy strikes. With the clan reeling, Mrs. Harrington, the children, and Rita are sent to Foxcote Manor for the summer to recuperate far from prying eyes. But when a baby is abandoned just outside their gate, the family takes her in and will never be the same. Within days a person will lie dead in the woods, and a society scandal explodes.
Decades later, Londoner Sylvie has holes in her family history and an urgent need for answers. Overcoming her own deep-rooted fear of what she might find, she sets out to discover the truth, and unpick her mother’s little white lies. But the past is already far closer than she can imagine.
Discussion questions
1. How does where you come from influence or limit where your life can go? Does that have the power to reverberate through generations?
2. From the beginning of the novel we are aware of a terrible tragedy that has befallen the Harrington family. How do you think this event changed each of the characters involved? Do you think the story would have taken a different turn had this tragedy not happened?
3. The Glass House/ The Daughters of Foxcote Manor portrays the subtle nuances of the relationships between mothers and daughters.
4. Were there any scenes or instances that you felt mirrored your relationship with your mother or daughter?
5. Why do you think the author chose to set a timeline in the novel in the 1970s? Did it change the way you read the story? If so, how?
6.How did the family secrets in the novel affect Rita, Hera, and Sylvie? Have you ever discovered secrets from your own family’s past? Do you think the truth is sometimes best untouched?
7. Hera finding a baby abandoned in the woods is a big turning point in the novel. Do you think Rita and the Harrington’s made the right decision in that situation? If you were in their shoes, how would you have reacted?
8. Discuss the novels treatment of motherhood. Was Jeannie a good mother to her children? Did Rita do what was right when faced with a crossroad in her life? Do you like how Sylvie reacted to Annie’s shocking news?
9. What does being a “good mother” mean to you? Are there gray areas to that term? Have you been faced with a situation that toes the line of that definition for you?
10. Were you surprised by the ending?
THE VANISHING OF AUDREY WILDE/THE WILDLING SISTERS
Four sisters. One summer. A lifetime of secrets.
When fifteen-year-old Margot Wilde and her three sisters arrive at Applecote Manor in July 1959, they expect a quiet English country summer. Instead, they find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their daughter, Audrey, five years before. As the arrival of two handsome neighbors divides the sisters’ loyalties, Margot finds herself drawn into the life Audrey left behind and the mystery of her vanishing. But when the summer takes a deadly turn, the girls must unite behind an unthinkable choice or find themselves torn apart forever.
Fifty years later, Jesse is desperate to move her family out of their London home, where signs of her widower husband's previous wife are around every corner. Gorgeous Applecote Manor, nestled in the English countryside, seems the perfect solution. But Jesse finds herself increasingly isolated in their new sprawling home, at odds with her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter and haunted by the strange rumours that surround the estate.
Rich with heat and angst, in this novel the thrill of first love clashes with the bonds of sisterhood, taking readers on a breathless journey into the darkest secrets of the human heart.
Discussion questions
1. Did you have a favourite Wilde sister? Why or why not? Did the sisters remind you of your own siblings?
2. How does the novel portray family? Is sisterhood different for the Wilde sisters than it is for Romy and Bella? Do you think sisterhood is a different bond than brotherhood or that between siblings of different genders? If so, why?
3. The novel asks us to consider how far we would go to protect those we love. Were you surprised by the decisions the Wilde sisters make? Margot thinks they are “bonded by blood”. Do you think the sisters committed a crime? If so, are the sisters all equally guilty?
4. When talking about Sybil, Moll tells Margot, “Like I believe in the Good Lord, she believes in Audrey” . What does Moll mean? Discuss the role of faith in the novel. How does Sybil’s faith in Audrey shape her character? What do you think Margot has faith in? What about Jessie?
5. Margot misses Audrey terribly at the beginning of the novel, but as the summer progresses her relationship to Audrey seems to change as well. What does Audrey’s friendship mean to Margot? Why do you think Margot goes along with Sybil’s fantasy? How does pretending to be Audrey change Margot?
6. Margot thinks “Applecote Manor was summer”. How does visiting Perry and Sybil change the Wilde girls? Was there somewhere you went as a child that offered you a similar sense of freedom? Do you remember a particular summer in which you feel your life changed?
7. Jessie feels as though she was destined to live at Applecote, and Margot also feels a lifelong bond with the property. Have you ever been pulled to a place? Why do you think the house calls to Jessie the way it does? Is its pull different for Margot?
8. Jessie and Will believe that Applecote Manor will be “a gentler, more benign” place than London, a city that “forces girls to grow up too fast, strips them of their innocence”. Do you agree with their decision to move the girls? How does the house prove their expectations wrong? Have you ever moved somewhere in hopes of achieving a different lifestyle?
9. Margot notices as the summer goes on that Sybil and Perry “really [are] one system, redistributing their appetites, that the marriage that once looked so dead may actually be alive at the roots”. How does the novel portray marriage? How is marriage different for Sybil and Perry than it is for Jessie and Will, or for Will and Mandy?
10. Were you surprised by Harry’s confession to Margot? Why or why not? How do you feel about the way Audrey’s story ends?
BLACK RABBIT HALL
Questions for Discussion
1. Lorna and Amber are two very different women at very different places in their lives, but both are forever changed by events that occur at Black Rabbit Hall. In what ways are these women similar? How are they different? Did you relate to one character more than the other?
2. As children, Amber and Toby are almost inseparable, but after their mother’s death they both change dramatically—Amber reflects that she “no longer feel[s] like a girl inside” (p. 93), and Toby becomes increasingly angry and wild. Why do you think the twins grow apart, instead of together? Do you think they would have stayed close if Momma had lived? Why or why not?
3. During her first visit to Black Rabbit Hall, Lorna discovers a horse’s skull displayed in the library. Why do you think Mr. and then Mrs. Alton kept this, and why is it displayed so visibly? Do you agree with their choice? Jon comments, “This lot would stuff their own ancestors, given half a chance.” What do you think he means?
4. Which Alton sibling is your favourite? Why? Which sibling do you most identify with? Are they the same character?
5. When the novel begins, Amber is fourteen. After the Alton family tragedy, however, she is forced to grow up quickly and take responsibility for her siblings. How do you think this responsibility affects her relationship with Lucian? How did you respond to their relationship? Did you have a “first love,” and if so, did you relate to Amber’s feelings? Why or why not?
6. Lorna is enchanted by Black Rabbit Hall, knowing from the beginning this is where she’d like to be married. But as she explores, she feels more and more drawn to the family that lived there. Why did you first think she felt so tied to the Alton children? Is there somewhere from your family’s past that you won’t ever forget? Have you explored your own family history, and if so, did you find anything surprising?
7. Discuss the character of Caroline Alton. She admits to Lorna that she found her stepchildren “unfathomable” (p. 168). Do you think she is a bad stepmother? Are her actions ever justified?
8. As Lorna finds herself pulled further into the hallways and history of Black Rabbit Hall, she feels increasingly distant from Jon. Did you feel frustrated with Lorna’s treatment of the wedding? Did you feel frustrated with Jon? At one point Lorna thinks of an ex who claimed that Lorna “tests” relationships to see if they’re worth saving. Do you think this is true?
9. Nancy Alton remains a beacon of beauty and grace throughout the novel. Why do you think Eve Chase wrote her as an American? In what ways is she different from Caroline? Are the two women ever alike, and should they be?
10. Lorna finds much more than a wedding venue when she finally understands what happened at Black Rabbit Hall. Were you surprised by the ending? How do you feel about the Alton children, decades later?
Some secrets need to be set free...
Half-sisters Lauren, Kat and Flora share a famous artist father - and a terrible secret. Over the years they’ve grown into wildly different lives. But an unexpected summons to Rock Point, the remote and windswept Cornish house where they once sat for their father’s celebrated portrait, Girls and Birdcage - and they spent their childhood summers - reunites them.
When the sisters arrive at Rock Point, it is clear they are not alone. Someone is lurking in the shadows, watching their every move. Someone who remembers what they did…
Discussion Questions
- Lauren, Flora, and Kat have an unconventional sisterhood. What do you feel were some of the positives and negatives of their relationships? If you have siblings, were you able to relate your own family situation to this dynamic? If so, how?
- If Lauren, Flora, and Kat had been connected by a different father figure, do you think their lives would have been different? If so, in what ways?
- Discuss the ways in which childhood trauma affected each character in the novel. If you were Lauren, Kat, or Flora, how do you think you would have changed after that fateful summer?
- Which character do you relate to the most, and why?
- In a way, the Finches’ remote Cornish summer home feels like another character in the novel. If the Victorian villa were real, do you think you would choose to live there? Why or why not?
- A dark and dangerous event occurs at the Finch home during the summer of the total solar eclipse. Do you believe in cosmic energy? Why or why not? Do you think the solar eclipse influenced people’s behavior in The Birdcage?
- What was your favorite scene in the novel, and why?
- Why do you think birds are often portrayed in literature and media as unnerving or eerie? How do you think the aviary sets the tone for this story, and if there was a different animal in the novel, do you think your experience of the read would have changed?
- Who was your favourite character, and why?
- If the truth had been revealed about the Finch family sooner, do you think The Birdcage would have ended the way it did? Why or why not?
- Were you surprised by the ending?
THE GLASS HOUSE / THE DAUGHTERS OF FOXCOTE MANOR
An isolated forest estate. A family with a terrible secret. The discovery that changes everything.
Rita is nanny to the glamorous Harrington family’s two children. A small-town girl raised by her grandmother, she fell in love with the seemingly perfect London family. Then tragedy strikes. With the clan reeling, Mrs. Harrington, the children, and Rita are sent to Foxcote Manor for the summer to recuperate far from prying eyes. But when a baby is abandoned just outside their gate, the family takes her in and will never be the same. Within days a person will lie dead in the woods, and a society scandal explodes.
Decades later, Londoner Sylvie has holes in her family history and an urgent need for answers. Overcoming her own deep-rooted fear of what she might find, she sets out to discover the truth, and unpick her mother’s little white lies. But the past is already far closer than she can imagine.
Discussion questions
1. How does where you come from influence or limit where your life can go? Does that have the power to reverberate through generations?
2. From the beginning of the novel we are aware of a terrible tragedy that has befallen the Harrington family. How do you think this event changed each of the characters involved? Do you think the story would have taken a different turn had this tragedy not happened?
3. The Glass House/ The Daughters of Foxcote Manor portrays the subtle nuances of the relationships between mothers and daughters.
4. Were there any scenes or instances that you felt mirrored your relationship with your mother or daughter?
5. Why do you think the author chose to set a timeline in the novel in the 1970s? Did it change the way you read the story? If so, how?
6.How did the family secrets in the novel affect Rita, Hera, and Sylvie? Have you ever discovered secrets from your own family’s past? Do you think the truth is sometimes best untouched?
7. Hera finding a baby abandoned in the woods is a big turning point in the novel. Do you think Rita and the Harrington’s made the right decision in that situation? If you were in their shoes, how would you have reacted?
8. Discuss the novels treatment of motherhood. Was Jeannie a good mother to her children? Did Rita do what was right when faced with a crossroad in her life? Do you like how Sylvie reacted to Annie’s shocking news?
9. What does being a “good mother” mean to you? Are there gray areas to that term? Have you been faced with a situation that toes the line of that definition for you?
10. Were you surprised by the ending?
THE VANISHING OF AUDREY WILDE/THE WILDLING SISTERS
Four sisters. One summer. A lifetime of secrets.
When fifteen-year-old Margot Wilde and her three sisters arrive at Applecote Manor in July 1959, they expect a quiet English country summer. Instead, they find their aunt and uncle still reeling from the disappearance of their daughter, Audrey, five years before. As the arrival of two handsome neighbors divides the sisters’ loyalties, Margot finds herself drawn into the life Audrey left behind and the mystery of her vanishing. But when the summer takes a deadly turn, the girls must unite behind an unthinkable choice or find themselves torn apart forever.
Fifty years later, Jesse is desperate to move her family out of their London home, where signs of her widower husband's previous wife are around every corner. Gorgeous Applecote Manor, nestled in the English countryside, seems the perfect solution. But Jesse finds herself increasingly isolated in their new sprawling home, at odds with her sixteen-year-old stepdaughter and haunted by the strange rumours that surround the estate.
Rich with heat and angst, in this novel the thrill of first love clashes with the bonds of sisterhood, taking readers on a breathless journey into the darkest secrets of the human heart.
Discussion questions
1. Did you have a favourite Wilde sister? Why or why not? Did the sisters remind you of your own siblings?
2. How does the novel portray family? Is sisterhood different for the Wilde sisters than it is for Romy and Bella? Do you think sisterhood is a different bond than brotherhood or that between siblings of different genders? If so, why?
3. The novel asks us to consider how far we would go to protect those we love. Were you surprised by the decisions the Wilde sisters make? Margot thinks they are “bonded by blood”. Do you think the sisters committed a crime? If so, are the sisters all equally guilty?
4. When talking about Sybil, Moll tells Margot, “Like I believe in the Good Lord, she believes in Audrey” . What does Moll mean? Discuss the role of faith in the novel. How does Sybil’s faith in Audrey shape her character? What do you think Margot has faith in? What about Jessie?
5. Margot misses Audrey terribly at the beginning of the novel, but as the summer progresses her relationship to Audrey seems to change as well. What does Audrey’s friendship mean to Margot? Why do you think Margot goes along with Sybil’s fantasy? How does pretending to be Audrey change Margot?
6. Margot thinks “Applecote Manor was summer”. How does visiting Perry and Sybil change the Wilde girls? Was there somewhere you went as a child that offered you a similar sense of freedom? Do you remember a particular summer in which you feel your life changed?
7. Jessie feels as though she was destined to live at Applecote, and Margot also feels a lifelong bond with the property. Have you ever been pulled to a place? Why do you think the house calls to Jessie the way it does? Is its pull different for Margot?
8. Jessie and Will believe that Applecote Manor will be “a gentler, more benign” place than London, a city that “forces girls to grow up too fast, strips them of their innocence”. Do you agree with their decision to move the girls? How does the house prove their expectations wrong? Have you ever moved somewhere in hopes of achieving a different lifestyle?
9. Margot notices as the summer goes on that Sybil and Perry “really [are] one system, redistributing their appetites, that the marriage that once looked so dead may actually be alive at the roots”. How does the novel portray marriage? How is marriage different for Sybil and Perry than it is for Jessie and Will, or for Will and Mandy?
10. Were you surprised by Harry’s confession to Margot? Why or why not? How do you feel about the way Audrey’s story ends?
BLACK RABBIT HALL
Questions for Discussion
1. Lorna and Amber are two very different women at very different places in their lives, but both are forever changed by events that occur at Black Rabbit Hall. In what ways are these women similar? How are they different? Did you relate to one character more than the other?
2. As children, Amber and Toby are almost inseparable, but after their mother’s death they both change dramatically—Amber reflects that she “no longer feel[s] like a girl inside” (p. 93), and Toby becomes increasingly angry and wild. Why do you think the twins grow apart, instead of together? Do you think they would have stayed close if Momma had lived? Why or why not?
3. During her first visit to Black Rabbit Hall, Lorna discovers a horse’s skull displayed in the library. Why do you think Mr. and then Mrs. Alton kept this, and why is it displayed so visibly? Do you agree with their choice? Jon comments, “This lot would stuff their own ancestors, given half a chance.” What do you think he means?
4. Which Alton sibling is your favourite? Why? Which sibling do you most identify with? Are they the same character?
5. When the novel begins, Amber is fourteen. After the Alton family tragedy, however, she is forced to grow up quickly and take responsibility for her siblings. How do you think this responsibility affects her relationship with Lucian? How did you respond to their relationship? Did you have a “first love,” and if so, did you relate to Amber’s feelings? Why or why not?
6. Lorna is enchanted by Black Rabbit Hall, knowing from the beginning this is where she’d like to be married. But as she explores, she feels more and more drawn to the family that lived there. Why did you first think she felt so tied to the Alton children? Is there somewhere from your family’s past that you won’t ever forget? Have you explored your own family history, and if so, did you find anything surprising?
7. Discuss the character of Caroline Alton. She admits to Lorna that she found her stepchildren “unfathomable” (p. 168). Do you think she is a bad stepmother? Are her actions ever justified?
8. As Lorna finds herself pulled further into the hallways and history of Black Rabbit Hall, she feels increasingly distant from Jon. Did you feel frustrated with Lorna’s treatment of the wedding? Did you feel frustrated with Jon? At one point Lorna thinks of an ex who claimed that Lorna “tests” relationships to see if they’re worth saving. Do you think this is true?
9. Nancy Alton remains a beacon of beauty and grace throughout the novel. Why do you think Eve Chase wrote her as an American? In what ways is she different from Caroline? Are the two women ever alike, and should they be?
10. Lorna finds much more than a wedding venue when she finally understands what happened at Black Rabbit Hall. Were you surprised by the ending? How do you feel about the Alton children, decades later?
