One of the greatest mystery thrillers ever written, Wilkie Collins’s The Woman in White was a phenomenal bestseller in the 1860s, achieving even greater success than works by Dickens, Collins’s friend and mentor. Full of surprise, intrigue, and suspense, this vastly entertaining novel continues to enthrall readers today.
The story begins with an eerie midnight encounter between artist Walter Hartright and a ghostly woman dressed all in white who seems desperate to share a dark secret. The next day Hartright, engaged as a drawing master to the beautiful Laura Fairlie and her half sister, tells his pupils about the strange events of the previous evening. Determined to learn all they can about the mysterious woman in white, the three soon find themselves drawn into a chilling vortex of crime, poison, kidnapping, and international intrigue.
Masterfully constructed, The Woman in White is dominated by two of the finest creations in all Victorian fiction—Marion Halcombe, dark, mannish, yet irresistibly fascinating, and Count Fosco, the sinister and flamboyant “Napoleon of Crime.”
(From Amazon.com, the Barnes and Noble edition of the book.)
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As a word to all of you: The Woman in White is a very long book and it has a rather slow beginning. I’ve currently read 200 of its 600 pages and I’m just really starting to enjoy the story. I know that December it a busy month for many of you, but, if you decide to participate this month, don’t give up too soon! This book is fascinating and well-worth your time.
How did you all like this book? I utterly adored reading it again and one of the members whom I talked about it with shared my sentiments.
As usual, I’m posting the discussion questions, but feel free to tell me any or all of the following:
Who was your favorite character?
What was your favorite line/letter?
Who would you cast as the characters if there was to be a movie made?
Did the book make you want to go to Guernsey?
etc., etc., etc.
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About the Reader’s Guide:
Celebrating literature, love, and the power of the human spirit, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society is the story of an English author living in the shadow of World War II—and embarking on a writing project that will dramatically change her life. Unfolding in a series of letters, this enchanting novel introduces readers to the indomitable Juliet Ashton. Through Juliet’s correspondence with her publisher, best friend, and an absorbing cast of characters, readers discover that despite the personal losses she suffered in the Blitz, and author tours sometimes marked by mishaps, nothing can quell her enthusiasm for the written word. One day, she begins a different sort of correspondence, responding to a man who found her name on the flyleaf of a cherished secondhand book. He tells her that his name is Dawsey Adams, a native resident of Guernsey, one of the Channel Islands recently liberated from Nazi occupation. Soon Juliet is drawn into Dawsey’s remarkable circle of friends, courageous men and women who formed the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as a cover to protect them from the Germans. With their appetite for good books, and their determination to honor the island’s haunting recent history, this is a community that opens Juliet’s heart and mind in ways she could never have imagined.
The questions and discussion topics that follow are intended to enhance your reading of Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows’s Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. We hope they will enrich your experience of this captivating novel.
Reading Guide
1. What was it like to read a novel composed entirely of letters? What do letters offer that no other form of writing (not even emails) can convey?
2. What makes Sidney and Sophie ideal friends for Juliet? What common ground do they share? Who has been a similar advocate in your life?
3. Dawsey first wrote to Juliet because books, on Charles Lamb or otherwise, were so difficult to obtain on Guernsey in the aftermath of the war. What differences did you note between bookselling in the novel and bookselling in your world? What makes book lovers unique, across all generations?
4. What were your first impressions of Dawsey? How was he different from the other men Juliet had known?
5. Discuss the poets, novelists, biographers, and other writers who capture the hearts of the members of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. What does a reader’s taste in books say about his or her personality? Whose lives were changed the most by membership in the society?
6. Juliet occasionally receives mean-spirited correspondence from strangers, accusing both Elizabeth and Juliet of being immoral. What accounts for their judgmental ways?
7. In what ways were Juliet and Elizabeth kindred spirits? What did Elizabeth’s spontaneous invention of the society, as well as her brave final act, say about her approach to life?
8. Numerous Guernsey residents give Juliet access to their private memories of the occupation. Which voices were most memorable for you? What was the effect of reading a variety of responses to a shared tragedy?
9. Kit and Juliet complete each other in many ways. What did they need from each other? What qualities make Juliet an unconventional, excellent mother?
10. How did Remy’s presence enhance the lives of those on Guernsey? Through her survival, what recollections, hopes, and lessons also survived?
11. Juliet rejects marriage proposals from a man who is a stereotypical “great catch.” How would you have handled Juliet’s romantic entanglement? What truly makes someone a “great catch”?
12. What was the effect of reading a novel about an author’s experiences with writing, editing, and getting published? Did this enhance the book’s realism, though Juliet’s experience is a bit different from that of debut novelist Mary Ann Shaffer and her niece, children’s book author Annie Barrows?
13. What historical facts about life in England during World War II were you especially surprised to discover? What traits, such as remarkable stamina, are captured in a detail such as potato peel pie? In what ways does fiction provide a means for more fully understanding a non-fiction truth?
14. Which of the members of the Society is your favorite? Whose literary opinions are most like your own?
15. Do you agree with Isola that “reading good books ruins you for enjoying bad ones”?
As we are reading ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’ this month, I found, on the book’s website, a recipe for the infamous ‘potato peel pie’.
Here is my challenge for all of you participating this month: Make and try the recipe by the end of the month. Post your thoughts in the comment box of this post. Enjoy! (Or, at least try to. *smiles*)
Here’s a recipe for a potato peel pie, but I warn you, it tastes like paste. The more authentic it is, the nastier. These ingredients will make a very small pie (expand at will):
1 potato
1 beet
1 Tablespoon milk
Peel the potato and put the peelings in a pie pan. Don’t cook the peels, because you’re in the middle of an Occupation and you don’t have any fuel. Boil the potato and the beet together in salty water, but not for very long, due to the fuel problem. Just until you can stick a fork in the potato. Take them out and mash them up with the milk. Pour the glop in the pie pan. Bake at 375 for as short a time as is consonant with digestion (fuel again), say, fifteen minutes.
The finished product will look quite attractive and pink. If you squint, you can almost imagine raspberries. Don’t be fooled. It looks a lot better than it is. However, if you forgot that you were in the middle of WWII and added a bunch of butter and milk and salt, it could be quite tasty.
January 1946: writer Juliet Ashton receives a letter from a stranger, a founding member of the Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society. And so begins a remarkable tale of the island of Guernsey during the German occupation, and of a society as extraordinary as its name.
Hello Literary Ladies!
It’s Cassie, back again from a lovely break while the wonderful Kyla/Liberty handled things around here.
I am so excited for this month because this is one of my favorite books that I have ever read. Ever.
I picked it up from my grandfather’s stack of books on Christmas Day of last year. I couldn’t put it down until I finished it the next day. As I read the final pages tears were streaming down my face.
This book is beautiful.
If you haven’t read any of the books for the club so far, this is the one I would recommend the highest. Once you read it, it will touch you in incredible ways and, I assure you, you will be glad that you did.
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Also, please check out the post below and join the ‘Journey to the Center of the Earth’ discussion.
So, October is coming to a close! Go us! (Of course, that means November is coming, which means hot chocolate and NaNoWriMo, two of the greatest inventions of mankind. But I digress.)
As I was too busy (or too lazy, take your pick) to find discussion questions this month, I guess this is just going to be a free-for-all. Bring up things about Journey to the Center of the Earth that you liked, enjoyed, noticed, whatever. Have fun with it. Be humorous. Be ye forewarned that any particularly witty comments may or may not be stolen and used as plot gambits in my NaNoWriMo novel.
‘Ello folks. It’s Liberty here, Cassie’s co-admin/writer/person.
This is one of my favorite books, mostly because it is by Jules Verne, who I adore, and also because it’s exciting and interesting, and presents an interesting view of science.
I was determined to be ahead of schedule this time. *smiles* I am opening the discussion for the ‘Goose Girl’ to all who have already finished reading it. If you haven’t yet, then don’t fret and join the conversation when you are done.
Once again, here are some discussion questions that you may answer if you want, but if not, pose questions, raise discussion points, etc. I’d love to hear and talk about YOUR personal thoughts on this book and story! (The questions are just for fun.)
Discussion Questions:
1. The queen tells Ani that “a crown princess, like a queen, can succeed only by staying apart. Separation, elevation, delegation” (p. 25). Describe these three terms in your own words, and then discuss whether you agree with the queen’s view. What do you think it would be like to live under these expectations? How do you think this would affect Ani’s ability to make true friends and keep them?
2. Ani is stripped of her rightful crown by her mother, and forced into poverty and virtual slave labor by those who are hired to protect and care for her. While these life changes are traumatic and dramatic, in the end they prove to be good for Ani; she becomes a stronger, more insightful person and meets people whom she might not have otherwise. How so? What does she learn about herself? What does she learn from those who befriend her along her journey? How would things have been different between Geric and Ani had she not gone through these trials?
3. Discuss Ani’s relationship with her mother. Do you think the queen truly loves her daughter if she is able to deny her daughter’s birthright? Do you believe her mother’s actions are a betrayal? A political move? A move to protect her daughter? A selfish act? What makes you believe this? How would you feel if your mother denied you something you felt entitled to?
4. Ani’s aunt and mother are very different from one another. How do you think these differences play a role in Ani’s development?
5. Characters’ intentions can be revealed by a number of means: their words, their actions, their treatment of others, how others treat them. How are the intentions of Selia, Ungolad, Talone, Geric, and Enna shown through each of these methods? Are there hints about Selia’s unhappiness even before the journey begins?
6. Compare the Kildenreans to the Bayern. How are they similar? How are they different? For example, what do the Bayern do with their prisoners that upsets Ani, a Kildenrean? When Yulan and Ishta treat Ani harshly during their attempt to abduct her, it creates anger among the Bayern men “as hot as walking out of a summer shade” (p. 231). Do you think the author is making a point about cultural differences between all people? What can we learn from Ani’s experience and apply to our own lives?
7. Discuss how appearance and prejudice help and hinder Ani in her quest for justice and her title. For example, what does Gilsa know about Ani by her appearance alone? What does Geric assume? Do the assumptions based on appearances turn out to be correct or incorrect? Why do you think people make assumptions based on appearance alone?
8. Discuss the romance between Geric and Ani. How would Geric describe her? Why does their relationship bloom and then wilt? Are you surprised by Ani’s getting married at such a young age? Are you surprised to learn Geric’s true identity?
9. Once in the forest, Selia’s treatment of Ani becomes obviously hostile, culminating when she proclaims, “Royalty is not a right, Captain. The willingness of the people to follow a ruler is what gives her power. Here in this place, by this people, I have been chosen” (p. 79). Do you agree with Selia’s assessment? Is this action similar to those taken by others throughout history who wished to gain power over their own destinies? By the end of the story, how does Ani fit Selia’s definition of royalty?
10. At first Ani believes the handkerchief her mother gives her is protecting her, but after the tragic events in the forest, she realizes “the idea was completely ridiculous, a bed-tale, a lie” (p. 88). Why is this an important moment for Ani? How does it serve her for the rest of the novel? What ideas or objects do you cling to when you face difficult times?
11. What do you think Ani’s mother, brother, and sisters would say if they learned how she saved their kingdom from annihilation? Do you think they would regret how they treated her? What would Ani’s aunt say? Whose approval do you think would be most important to Ani? Why?
12. On cold evenings Ani joins the other animal workers and roasts nuts by the fire and learns to play games. For the first time in her life, Ani must learn to build friendships with people who are not paid to be her companions. What skills does she develop? How does she turn these strangers, especially Enna, into such dear friends that they are willing to endanger their lives for her?
13. Although Ani has the gift of animal-speaking, she is forced to hide it from others. How would her life have been different had this been a valued gift in her own kingdom? Have you ever known someone who has hidden his or her talents? Would you feel comfortable exhibiting yours at all times?
14. Ani is often described as having bird-like qualities, while Selia is described as cat-like. How does that inform your reading of the characters, their relationship, and their choices?
15. In traditional fairy tales, the main character is often rescued by another person. In this modern adaptation, Ani is able to save herself by learning to harness her own gifts and by overcoming her inadequacies with people. Do you think one type of story is more valuable than the other? Which story would you rather read?
16. The author, Shannon Hale, based THE GOOSE GIRL on a Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale. “I felt it was important to make the setting as close to the original tale’s setting as I could,” she has said. “I wanted it to feel like a place we know, a place that is here somewhere, but in the past, just as tales are about us but long ago. To do that, I based Bayern loosely on the Germany of old, the birthplace of the Brothers Grimm. This is not a true historical setting, but resources such as the writings of the Roman historian Tacitus helped me build a foundation for what I hoped would be a believable and familiar world.” What details of the setting are your favorites? Why? Does it seem familiar or true to you? Why or why not? Do you think it is important for an author of fantasy to pay close attention to a setting’s detail? Why or why not?
17. Fairy tales often share common characteristics — the use of the number three, magical elements, transformations, misleading appearances, and the conquest of good over evil. Additionally, the hero or heroine is often infallible. Which elements did Shannon Hale decide to incorporate into THE GOOSE GIRL? Which ones did she omit? Why do you think so? What makes a fairy tale different from other types of stories?
18. Discuss this quote from the author: “Tales are fascinating things. They seem to me to be the poetry of history — all the superfluous bits are worn down, tossed away, leaving only the sharpest images, the strongest words, the barest stories. But those stories survive. To do so, I believe they must hold some real human truth. They speak to each reader in a different way, and yet appeal universally to readers and storytellers over decades and centuries.” Do you agree with the author? What do you think she means by the phrase “real human truth”? How is this shown throughout the novel?
19. If you were a writer, what could you learn from this book?
20. If you were to produce a movie of THE GOOSE GIRL, whom would you cast in each role? Why would you pick these particular actors?
“She was born with her eyes closed and a word on her tongue, a word she could not taste. Her name was Anidori-Kiladra Talianna Isilee, Crown Princess of Kildenree, and she spent the first years of her life listening to her aunt’s stories and learning the language of the birds, especially the swans. And when she was older, she watched as a colt was born, and she heard the first word on his tongue, his name, Falada.
From the Grimm’s fairy tale of the princess who became a goose girl before she could become queen, Shannon Hale has woven an incredible, original, and magical tale of a girl who must find her own unusual talents before she can lead the people she has made her own.”
Wow, I’ve already finished this one for this month and I loved it!
It was a beautiful, fun book and I’m so excited to read it for Literary Ladies.
Now that life is back in order, I should put up the discussion at the end of September.
So… did you all get to read the fabulous ‘Mysterious Benedict Society’? I had never read it before this month and I finished it in less than three days… I loved it!
I was able to do some research and I found these questions to help prompt your thoughts (You can also comment with ANY aspect of the book that you either liked or disliked, the questions are just there for fun.) I plan on answering some of them too, but probably after my mom, dad, and new sister get back from China… Until then, I’m swamped.
Discussion Questions:
1. Mr. Benedict recruits children who are all alone in the world. Why? Is it a good reason, or a bad one?
2. Reynie says he doesn’t like television. Do you believe him? How do YOU feel about television? What kinds of messages really do come through TV, radio, and movies? Are they usually positive or negative?
3. Why is it so important for the Society to stay together and work as a team? Even though Constance seems to be a burden at times, what does she bring to the mission?
4. This book shows kids living very independently. For instance, before Mr. Benedict found them, Constance was living in a city library, Kate had joined the circus, and Sticky stowed away on a river barge. Do you think it’s really possible for kids to live like that? Do you think kids should be allowed such independence? Would you like to live on your own? What would you do?
5. At The Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened (L.I.V.E.), the children in the Mysterious Benedict Society are taught that there are no rules. What is ironic about this statement? Is there any truth to it?
6. There are several ranks at LI.V.E., including Executives and Messengers. What are the benefits of being an Executive? A Messenger? How do the kids serving in these roles differ from the members of the Mysterious Benedict Society? How are they the same?
7. What is the Whisperer? Why does it make the Messengers feel so good about themselves? Why are Reynie and Sticky so terrified to become Messengers? Are their fears founded?
8. Ledroptha Curtain and Mr. Benedict are both men guided by very strong beliefs that are very different — in what ways are
they similar? Do you think that they could ever work together? Why?
9. Which of the four members of the Mysterious Benedict Society do you think has the best skill? Why?
10. What is YOUR special skill? What role would you play in the Mysterious Benedict Society?
11. How has the Mysterious Benedict Society helped each member grow? What do you think will happen to each of them in the future?
For some fun, check out the Curiosity Chronicle- the book’s official website… it has games, downloads, and other oddities
ARE YOU A GIFTED CHILD Looking for special opportunities?
When this peculiar ad appears in the newspaper, dozens of children enroll to take a series of mysterious, mind-bending tests. (And you, dear listener, can test your wits right alongside them.) But in the end just four very special children will succeed. Their challenge: to go on a secret mission that only the most intelligent and resourceful children could complete. To accomplish it they will have to go undercover at the Learning Institute for the Very Enlightened, where the only rule is that there are no rules.
As our heroes face physical and mental trials beyond their wildest imaginations, they have no choice but to turn to each other for support. But with their newfound friendship at stake, will they be able to pass the most important test of all?
Welcome to the mysterious benedict society.
Until then, I’m swamped.
or visit the
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