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Have Elizabeth Join Your Book Club Discussion!

Book Club FAQs

Do you meet with book clubs?
Yes! Contact me here and we can schedule a time.

Do you meet with groups in person?
If you are near Greenville, or I am in your area for another event. Otherwise, we can get together on Zoom!

How does the meeting go?
I drop in through Zoom and spend 30-40 minutes with your group, answering any questions you might have. I’m an informal person and open to just about any question—you can ask about the book you’ve read, where the characters come from, what the writing process is like, what it’s like getting published (and not) or if I actually did some of the things in GEORGIE GIRL which is not a memoir but loosely based on my being one of a handful of faculty daughters raised on the campus of a boy’s boarding school.

Do you charge for a meeting?
I don’t, but buying books and/or posting reviews are great ways to thank authors for their time.

Discussion Questions

Christmas at Reedy Falls

  1. Do you enjoy small-town holiday romances? Which have been your favorites?
  2. How did reading Christmas at Reedy Falls enhance your holiday experience? Have you visited Greenville’s Grand Bohemian Lodge, or made plans to do so?
  3. Do you believe in love at first sight? Have you or someone you know experienced the phenomena? Did the relationship last?
  4. Have you ever learned life-altering information about your family that sent you on a quest to learn more, and explore a potential relationship? What difference did the knowledge make in your life?
  5. In what ways does Christmas at Reedy Falls deviate from or subvert traditional romance tropes?
  6. Is your worldview more like Mamie’s or Rob’s? Has that changed with time and experience?
  7. Do you have one best friend? How does Mamie’s relationship with Abigay affect her decisions and worldview? Do you think they will remain best friends for life?
  8. Did Mamie’s mother deserve her forgiveness? Did Rob’s father deserve his? Why?
  9. Who are your favorite supporting characters in the story? And why?
  10. If Mamie and Rob got a sequel, what would it be about? What do you think comes next for them? What do you hope?

A Cleft In The World

  1. Has fear been a factor in your life? How has it held you back from the things in life that are fulfilling?
  2. How do you push past your fears?
  3. In what ways does Georgie and Truman’s relationship as young teens play into their adult relationship?
  4. Georgie worries that Truman may love her for his idealized “Georgie Girl” of fourteen rather than the woman she is at forty-five. Have you or someone you know experienced a second chance romance? Can you relate to Georgie’s feelings?
  5. If you’ve read GEORGIE GIRL, how do you see Georgie and Lacey’s relationship as teens play into their adult relationship? How did Lacey’s surprise visit in A CLEFT IN THE WORLD affect Georgie? Do you have friend relationships that have endured since girlhood? In what ways have those relationships sustained you? How does Lacey’s presence finally help Georgie to come to terms with the past/ her father’s death?
  6. Both Georgie and Laurel experience conflict with Truman’s mother Eleanor. Have you had a similar family conflict? In what ways has it affected you, or made difficult your other relationships? Is Eleanor’s redemption justifiable?
  7. What steps of progress do you see Georgie make as she emerges from her comfort zone? Cite and discuss specific scenes.
  8. What qualities of Georgie’s make her a great teacher?
  9. How have Georgie’s experiences prepared her to move from the classroom and into a new role?
  10. How would you hope to see the extended Parker family in ten years? Did you have a favorite relationship?

Topanga Canyon

  1. What was the book that made you fall in love with reading?
  2. Have you ever felt that different places brought out different sides of you
  3. Though Dare and Caroline have been emotionally estranged for most of Caroline’s life, by the time she is eighteen, life is carrying mother and daughter in polar opposite geographic directions. Do you think that by living that far apart for years was a positive influence in their ultimate reconciliation? How might the story have changed if Caroline had chosen to attend college in Virginia?
  4. Have you ever suffered an estrangement from a family member and how was it resolved?
  5. Would you rather spend a month in quaint Foxfield with Dare, or in Caroline’s California world?
  6. How did Caroline’s relationship with Rebeka enhance her life?
  7. Who was your favorite member of Caroline’s “crew” and why?
  8. How did you feel about the relationship between Taffy and Seraphina? Dare and Seraphina?
  9. Both Dare and Caroline make sacrifices and compromises in their lives for the men they love. What role do you think compromise plays in love? What, to you, is uncompromisable?
  10. What is your idea of a happy ending?

Georgie Girl

  1. Think back to when you first became interested in the opposite sex. How would you feel being one of a handful of girls surrounded by hundreds of boys?
  2. What function does the Browning School have in the narrative? Could this thought-to-be idyllic place be a character in itself?
  3. Did you find yourself taking the side of one boy over the other in the love triangle between Georgie, Truman, and Kelly? Did you ever find yourself in this situation?
  4. Does the behavior/antics of Miss Magpie remind you of anyone you have known?
  5. What does the river represent to you? What purpose did it serve in the story?
  6. What does the (baseball equipment) shed represent to you?
  7. Do you believe that Miss Suzette was aware of her husband’s illicit activities? How might it have changed the story if Lacey had told what Cal did to her while walking her home from babysitting?
  8. In what ways is “the tunnel” significant to Georgie?
  9. The novel is, at times, endearingly comedic. What scenes did you find particularly funny?  
  10. How do the following characters support and encourage Georgie?
    1. Julianne
    2. Asher
    3. Miss Foxie
    4. Madame Beaulieu
  11. How does the dynamic between Georgie and Lacey, and Lacey and Karen relate to real-life relationships you’ve been in or witnessed?
  12. What kind of big sister was Georgie to Ronnie?
  13. If you remember the period of the desegregation of schools, was it a comfortable transition for you or a perilous one?
  14. How does Georgie champion Larry and the students at her junior high school?
  15. What did the character of Clover represent to you?
  16. Georgie keeps many secrets from her parents. Do you think in her place you would have come clean sooner?
  17. Georgie comes to term with the tragedy of her father’s death quickly. But does she really? Don’t miss the sequel to this novel A CLEFT IN THE WORLD!

In Robin's Nest

  1. In the prologue Robin thinks, “All the rationalizations with which I’d built my house of cards shimmered before me.” Robin had several opportunities to tell Dean about Lark through the years, but each time chose against doing so. Do you believe the decisions Robin makes to keep her secret are justifiable? Honorable?
  2. What are Robin’s flaws/strengths? How do these affect the story? How is Robin like or unlike women you know?
  3. In what ways is Robin a good mother?
  4. How did the descriptions of interiors, the natural world, food, wine, and travel in the novel enhance your reading experience?
  5. How did the parts of the book set in the 1970s/early 1980s—the culture of sex, drugs, and rock and roll—resonate with you? In what ways can you relate to Robin’s experiences?
  6. Compare and contrast the mother/daughter relationships in the novel: between Robin and Olivia, and between Robin and Lark.
  7. Compare and contrast the father/daughter relationships in the novel: between Hank and Robin, and between Dean and Lark?
  8. Discuss the longtime friendship between Robin and Theresa. How does each benefit from the other? How does the friendship grow and change? Do you believe it’s possible to sustain a long-distance best friendship?
  9. Lark grows up knowing she has a father but believing he didn’t know of her existence. Do you think her response to this is typical? If there were a sequel to this novel, what sort of relationship do you believe Lark and Dean would be able to forge?
  10. Can you relate to Robin’s failed dating experiences?
  11. Discuss Robin’s relationship with Nick. Can you identify with her need for Nick in her life?
  12. Is there an old flame that you have fantasized about seeing again? Robin frets about her fifty-four-year-old appearance. How would you feel about your old flame seeing you again?
  13. Did Dean live up to your expectations as an older man?
  14. Were you surprised that Dean asked Robin to wait and make love after the wedding? If you were in Robin’s shoes, would you want to wait?
  15. Robin loves New York City. Do you think it’s possible for a city mouse like her to become a country mouse and live on a farm the rest of her life? Would you drastically change your lifestyle for the man of your dreams?
  16. Which character(s) do you believe experienced the greatest redemption in the end? In what ways were their lives redeemed?
  17. Has this story broadened your perspective? Have you learned something new or been exposed to different ideas about people? If so, what way has your perspective been broadened?

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