- Freda wants Joely to write her story in order to right a wrong. Can storytelling be used as a method of meting out justice? What are some examples of this that you’ve encountered in real life?
- What do you think it is that appeals to Joely about ghostwriting other peoples’ stories rather than writing her own?
- Freda has a strong opinion on who is to blame in her story about Sir. Do you agree with her that the blame lies more with the girl, or do you think the man should be held wholly accountable for his actions?
- Here, Freda asks Joely, “Would you agree that sometimes, in a memoir, it’s necessary to help the facts a little, either to make them more interesting, or to bring clarity to a complex situation? Or simply to move things along.” Is it ethical to stretch the truth in a memoir or other nonfiction work if you have a good reason for doing so? What might some of those reasons be?
- Here, Freda says, “We can’t turn back the clock to correct mistakes or untell lies, but we can punish the person who committed the crime.” Is getting revenge really an adequate alternative if you aren’t able to change anything about the event that occurred? How do you think Freda’s answer to this question would change throughout the events of the book?
- The book includes three mother-daughter relationships: Joely and Marianne, Joely and Holly, and Young Freda and her mother. What do these relationships have in common?
- Were you surprised to find out the truth about who the characters in Freda’s story were? Did you have a different prediction?
- What role does music play in the story?
- Compare the ways in which Freda and Joely reacted to their grief over losing family members. What common threads do you see between their actions and the motivations behind them?
- By the end of the book, multiple characters have made the difficult choice to forgive others for their actions. Do you agree with their decisions? Would have been able to find the same forgiveness if you were in their place?
- Joely is initially hurt when she learns that she has been left out of a family secret, but comes to accept that it wasn’t her secret to know. Do you think she should have been told along with her brother? In what ways do family secrets like this one affect all members of a family, regardless of whether or not someone is directly involved?
