Questions for Book Clubs and Reading Groups
- If you took time off to raise children before returning to the work force, how was your return influenced the your family situation? In what way(s) do Eden’s struggles reflect your own and/or other women you know?
- How does Eden’s reaction to her unexpected pregnancy reflect other women in the same situation? Were you in the same situation, would you have reacted similarly? Differently? Why?
- Hale has his own frustrations at work. He’s been promoted, but has yet to receive the increase in pay that was supposed to come to him. What should he have done immediately upon finding that his pay wasn’t increased? Should he have waited as long as he did to learn what happened? Why do you suppose he waited?
- How would you characterize Hale’s immediate supervisor? If you were in Hale’s shoes, what would you do to keep things moving in a positive direction at work?
- Debra calls all the adult Lambert sibs over for a family meeting. Was her reason for doing so appropriate? Were you a member of that family, how would you react to the news she offers?
- If you were in Eden’s shoes, would you have insisted on asking the doctor for an amniocentesis? Why or why not?
- Things go from bad to worse at work and Hale is sent home. Were you in his situation, how would you have handled things?
- Should Hale have confided in his father-in-law about his troubles at work when they first came to light? Why or why not?
- When Eden gets her job, she chooses not to share that she’s pregnant. Do you agree that this news was no business of her employer?
- When Eden finally shares her news that she’s pregnant, should she have immediately begun negotiations about what she would do after the baby was born?
- Eden goes to Hale’s office and discovers something that she is certain will help the IT experts find out who is stealing the scholarship money. How was it that she made that discovery when neither Hale nor the IT experts did so?
- When Eden encounters the thief and suddenly realizes who it is, how do you think she feels?
- Eden goes into labor in the midst of encountering the thief. Is she right that “when it rains, it pours?”
- What do you know about cystic fibrosis? Do you know any families contending with this disease? How would you react if one of your children was so afflicted?
- Are the college president’s actions following the catching of the thief and Hale’s promotion to head of the finance office appropriate? In what ways might his actions keep Hale working at the private college instead of seeking a position with a higher salary?
