READING GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE

1. On paper, would a resident caretaker job description read as your dream come true or your worst nightmare (or something in between)? In what ways do you imagine the reality of that lifestyle might differ from the idea of it? Do you think anyone can ever really know whether they’re suited to that kind of solitude and independence until they experience it firsthand?
2. How might another character have reacted in Katie’s position when she opened the door to her first frantic, wounded middle-of-the-night visitor? What factors contributed to Katie being reluctantly willing to do anything other than call the police? What might you have done?
3. What are some of the unexpected ways Katie finds herself relating to the women in her loft? Do you think relating to them ultimately made her decisions regarding the Sequence simpler or more complicated?
4. How is shame a common thread among many of the characters and their motivations, beyond the women who are assisted by the Sequence? Consider how Katie confronts (or buries) feelings of shame versus how those feelings have manifested in Bess, Sienna, Gina, and even Jude. Why is shame so powerful, and how does it feed the cycle of domestic violence? Is there a way to take that power back?
5. Both Katie and Dottie struggle with the idea that she doesn’t have a “personal reason” to remain involved with their network, though Katie eventually comes to realize she does have reasons she hasn’t been able to articulate. Do you think most people could find a “personal reason” to help if we look hard enough?
6. Katie and her sister both want to repair their relationship but aren’t quite sure how. Did seeing them together reveal anything new about what “the old Katie” might have been like? Did it give you a hopeful picture of what the future might hold for them both?
7. Would Katie have been as interested in Ryan if Bess hadn’t been so cavalier about pushing her toward anyone whose “name isn’t Clark”? Have we all been guilty of egging on friends without thinking it through? Or of the kind of overfamiliarity the comes with having a coworker or neighbor around so much that we overlook how little we know about them?
8. What frustrated you about Jude? What did you like about him?
9. Was it inevitable for something to go wrong for Grace sooner or later? If it hadn’t, do you think she would have remained caretaker indefinitely—and would that have been the right call?
10. People talk a lot about getting “closure” after a big life change like a divorce. Do you think it’s possible Katie found closure at Grove Reserve in ways that had nothing to do with Clark? Or was she looking for something else all along?
11. Bess says, “I always thought it would be boring to be one of those people who are constantly trying to do the right thing. Now I know the truth: it’s exhausting.” What aspects of this story changed or challenged the way you look at the gray area between right and wrong?