10. After Mia spies Harrison with Whitney downtown, she remembers that Harrison doesn’t believe in soul mates. What does “soul mate” mean to you?
11. In a drunken moment, Harrison finally reveals the burden he’s been carrying for months—that he feels responsible for the death of a young patient. Why do you think he kept this from Mia?
12. When Oliver shows up at Mia’s house, bewildered at the realization that Mia was at his best friend’s wedding years earlier, he repeats a Yogi Berra quote: “This is too much of a coincidence to be a coincidence.” What do you think that means?
13. What qualities do you think Mia needed in a partner? Who do you think was a better match for her?
14. After talking to Raya, Mia drives back to Hope Springs and makes her decision about who she wants to be with. Were you surprised by her choice?
15. Have you ever had a dream that came true before? Do you believe people can truly dream about the future?
16. At the end, when Oliver stops by Mia’s to see how she’s doing, she wonders why Oliver was in her life, and that “maybe Harrison was right—maybe there’s no rhyme or reason to it all.” Why do you think people come into our lives? Do you think it’s all haphazard or is there a greater design for the people we meet?
Don’t miss Colleen Oakley’s
The Invisible Husband of Frick Island
Available in early 2021!
Every morning Piper Parrish makes a bowl of cereal for herself and two fried eggs for her husband, Tom. Then Tom goes off to the docks and Piper goes to the general store, where she sells fresh seafood to tourists and residents of the tiny, remote island where they live. Piper’s life is nearly perfect—except for one little detail: Her husband Tom is dead.
When Tom’s crab boat capsized four months earlier and his body wasn’t recovered, Piper, shocked and rocked to the core, did a most peculiar thing—she carried on as if her husband was not only still alive but right there beside her each morning, waking up to eat eggs at the crack of dawn and meeting her for their standard Friday-night dinner date at the island’s only restaurant, the One-Eyed Crab.
And what were the townspeople to do but go along with their beloved widowed Piper and her charade? Until one day a young, ambitious reporter from the mainland arrives to write a fluff piece on Frick Island’s annual Cake Walk fund-raiser—but he stumbles upon a much more fascinating tale than he anticipated: an entire town pretending to see and interact with a man who does not actually exist. And suddenly, his meddlesome and continued presence threatens to unravel Piper’s perfect world and throw her life, and the entire town, into upheaval, as he starts to discover that nothing—and no one—on the island is quite what it seems.
Photo by Sarah Dorio
Colleen Oakley is the author of two previous novels, Close Enough to Touch and Before I Go, which were named best books by People, Us Weekly, Library Journal and Real Simple, and both were long-listed for the Southern Book Prize. Oakley is also a former senior editor of Marie Claire and editor in chief of Women’s Health & Fitness. Her articles, essays and interviews have been featured in the New York Times, Ladies’ Home Journal, Marie Claire, Women’s Health, Redbook, Parade and Martha Stewart Weddings. She lives in Georgia with her husband, four kids and the world’s biggest lapdog.
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