Women are often widowed without warning, as happens to Suzanna. Her grief is compounded by her guilt for feeling relief that her husband can’t hurt her anymore. Do you know women who have hidden the abuse they suffer at the hands of their husbands? How might you react, if married, when your significant other dies suddenly?
Suzanna’s grown children don’t seem to understand that she wants to reinvent herself. While her son is casually supportive, her daughter wants Suzanna to carry on as she always has. Why does this send chills through Suzanna?
When she takes a cruise her children have encouraged her to go on, Suzanna has an epiphany, in part because of what Maude tells her. Were you there, would you agree with Maude? Why or why not?
What is it about Suzanna that impels Jonathan Kingsley to notice her, to toy with the idea of seeing her again? After all, he’s been divorced for years, and seems to have a good life without need of a spouse.
When Suzanna decides to take action, she begins by selling her husband’s law practice with the help of his senior partner. But they she buys a jeep in camouflage colors, she gets a dog, and decides to go on a trip to Yellowstone and beyond. Can you understand why this might upset her daughter, Penny? What is it about Kevin that he is so accommodating of his mother’s plans?
When Suzanna becomes reacquainted with Jonathan, she recognizes that she is attracted to him, but she’s loath to let him know that. Why?
Jonathan offers to let Suzanna stay at his ranch, but she insists on using the little cabin rather than the main house. What does she use as an excuse and why does she feel she should not accept his offer of more commodious accomodations?
Why is Maris jealous of Suzanna?
What is it about Suzanna’s helping out at the town library that feeds her soul?
How does Sam and his antics during their various hiking adventures inform Suzanna’s gradual growth to becoming her own woman?
Why does Jonathan not want his ranch hands to know how he feels about Suzanna? Can he really hide his feelings when he buys her dinner at the fund raiser for the library? When he helps her after the bear encounter?
What is the reason Suzanna invites her grown children to come to the ranch? And what impels Suzanna to come clean with Penny about her father’s treatment of her mother?
When Kevin calls to tell his mother that’s he’s now engaged, she decides to go home to Minneapolis. Would she have done so without such a compelling reason?
How do Jonathan’s ranch neighbors, Bill and Kittie Ames, help Suzanna to see why Jonathan is so important in their community?
When Suzanna returns home and Penny gives her an ultimatum, what prevents Suzanna from standing up to her daughter? When Jonathan walks out on Suzanna after learning what Penny has done, is this the end of what could have been a new start for her? What might you have advised had you had the opportunity?
Why is Jamie’s relationship important to Jonathan? In what ways have their lives differed? In what ways are they similar?
Jonathan engages in a “war of the roses” to convince Suzanna to see what a life with him could be like. In what other ways does he help Suzanna to stand up to Penny?
How does the sudden loss of Emma, the librarian, and Sam, Suzanna’s dog, force her to let go of the past and to reach out for a brighter future ?
Women are often widowed without warning, as happens to Suzanna. Her grief is compounded by her guilt for feeling relief that her husband can’t hurt her anymore. Do you know women who have hidden the abuse they suffer at the hands of their husbands? How might you react, if married, when your significant other dies suddenly?
