For Book Clubs

I love meeting with book clubs. Most of the people have read the book and want to talk about it, and I learn a lot (once somebody pointed out something cool in my book that I didn’t know was there!) I can drive most places in Florida or Georgia, or if you’re just too far away, we can arrange a zoom meeting. You can email me to arrange a visit, mcculloc@law.ufl.edu, subject line”book club.”  Whether or not we meet, if your club adopts the book I’ll be happy to mail you bookmarks for each member. And if you’d like to tell me about your meeting, perhaps your responses to some of the suggested discussion questions, email me at the same address (same subject line). I’m sure I’ll respond.

Dreaming the Marsh

Dreaming the Marsh is eco-fiction, an environmental fable that is uniquely Floridian. Mother Nature has had enough and a day of reckoning is coming, foretold by words that mysteriously appear on the side of a shiny new building. When the reckoning arrives, in the form of a giant sinkhole that swallows the site of a planned development, a large lake, and several miles of interstate highway, the citizens of Opakulla, Florida struggle to understand what is happening. A geologist wants to study it, the developers relish its wild beauty, and the mayor plans to stop it. Only the owner of a local café, who speaks with the Ancients, understands it, and she isn’t telling. Infused with nature and magical realism, Dreaming the Marsh will find admirers among readers of Delia Owens and Karen Russell. 

(I offer these discussion questions only as suggestions, a way to get started if you can’t think where to dive in. I can’t imagine you’d try to discuss them all.)
1. Is the Marsh a character in the book? Think about what attributes of a character it has, and what it lacks.
2. What do the story of the Marsh and the sinkhole have to do with the human plotlines? How do these natural events affect the human characters?
3. Does the combination of magic and realism work, or does it seem contrived? Are the magical elements integrated into the story?
4. The author is a white woman. Though she has no ties to Native Americans, she has invented myths about the earliest inhabitants of the Marsh. Is she entitled to make up such stories?
5. Marybeth has deep family roots in Florida, and resents “outsiders” coming in, changing things, criticizing, giving advice. Who is a native, who is an outsider in this book?
6. Prologues are unusual in fiction, and many readers skip over them. If you read the prologue, did it contribute anything to your understanding or enjoyment of the book?
7. Does this fictional account of a natural disaster, laced with magic, have any relevance to contemporary environmental issues?
8. Why does Carol choose as she did? Was this a wise decision? Do you think the relationship will last?
9. What led Gerald to suggest to his family that they acquire part of the Marsh for development? What do you think of his actions after that?

The Year of the Child

Coerced by her abusive boyfriend, fifteen-year-old Leanne Ellsworth abandons her baby on a stranger’s porch. Devastated, she flees the relationship and sets out to reclaim her daughter. Marybeth Coggins finds the baby on her doorstep and tries to help, hoping to do better with Leanne than she did with her own daughter. Leanne’s mother Vinnie raised three challenging children; now Leanne has returned with her baby. As she struggles to get her daughter back and raise her, Leanne finds a strength she never knew she possessed.  

(I offer these discussion questions only as suggestions, a way to get started if you can’t think where to dive in. I can’t imagine you’d try to discuss them all.) 

1.If you were the judge, would you give Misty Dawn back to Leanne when the case first came to court?

2.Do school programs for teen moms encourage young girls to have babies?

3.Why did Marybeth offer a home to Leanne and Misty Dawn?

4. What consequences did Peter face for his actions in this story?

5. Do you have a favorite character in the book?

6. Is Leanne a good mother? Is Marybeth a good mother? Is Vinnie a good mother?

7. Did Leanne make the right decision at the end?

8. Would Misty Dawn be better off with Leanne or with the Kerringtons?

9. Would Leanne be better off if she consented to the adoption?

(If, like me, you like making stuff up) Imagine Leanne and Misty Dawn 15 years later (ages 31 and 16).. Imagine them at ages 41 and 26. How are they living? How is each one doing? What is their relationship like?