by Laura Brodie
4. What are some of the underlying reasons that Sarah and Nate have the affair? What do they gain from the relationship? Why do you think Margaret encourages it?
5. At one point Sarah wonders, “What could be extraordinary in the life of a small-town upper-middle-class white woman” like her? Why does she think her life is so mundane, and what is ironic about her question?
6. Sarah is mourning more than just the loss of David when he disappears. Explore why she is in such a dark place in her life. Can she pinpoint when it happened and why?
7. After learning that David survives the storm on the river, and hearing his explanations for his actions, do you think his “hiding out” was a selfish act or a reasonable option?
8. Sarah thinks, “Age . . . does not appear first in wrinkles or gray hair, but in the dulling of one’s smile.” How does this sum up the life she was living with David before his disappearance?
9. Why do you think David is so real to Sarah? Why does she need him to be?
10. At the end of the novel, we discover what really happened to David. Did Sarah create an alternate reality, or is David a real ghost?
11. What did Sarah expect to gain from her life with David? Was it for her peace of mind and healing, or to give him the chance to live the life he had always dreamed?
12. What was needed both from David and Sarah in order for his ghost to finally leave?
13. Sarah feels angry and frustrated about many of the things in her life—the downfall of her marriage, her inability to carry a child to term, David’s disappearance. How does she finally find peace with herself?
Table of Contents
Praise
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Epigraph
PART ONE - Spirit
• 1 •
• 2 •
• 3 •
• 4 •
• 5 •
• 6 •
• 7 •
• 8 •
PART TWO - Flesh
• 9 •
• 10 •
• 11 •
• 12 •
• 13 •
• 14 •
• 15 •
• 16 •
• 17 •
• 18 •
• 19 •
• 20 •
PART THREE - Resurrection
• 21 •
• 22 •
• 23 •
• 24 •
• 25 •
• 26 •
• 27 •
• 28 •
• 29 •
PART FOUR - Resolutions
• 30 •
• 31 •
• 32 •
• 33 •
• 34 •
• 35 •
Afterword
Acknowledgements
The Widow’s Season