1. What do you think it would be like to love a spy? What complications would that kind of relationship endure?
2. In the 1940s, intelligence wasn’t always considered an attractive trait in a woman. Men could find intelligence off-putting, and women’s social groups might reject a girl seen as smart. Did that part of Justine’s story feel realistic to you? Do you think this situation has changed today?
3. Did you solve Paul’s message to Justine?
4. Have you ever really thought about what it meant to be unable to open a bank account because of your sex? Have you experienced that? If so, how did you manage?
5. Do you know or remember women who would have been adults during WWII? (Or perhaps you remember those years, in which case I think you should lead your group’s discussion.) Did those women ever talk about their experiences? How do you think it affected them to be competently running a welding machine and/or a household and/or a family budget, only to be told to step back and hand over those responsibilities when the men came home?
6. Did the descriptions of the physics underpinning the events in The Physicists’ Daughter make sense to you? Did the story leave you interested in learning more about real-life twentieth-century science?