Questions for Discussion

1. Given the differences between Lena and Rae, what do you think accounts for their connection?

2. Did you identify more with Lena or Rae, and why? Did that change over the course of the story?

3. The book is based in part on historical events. Did you know any of this history before reading the novel? What surprised you most?

4. There is a refrain in the novel, “this is what love is.” How does the meaning of that phrase change over time and with circumstance?

5. Have you or any of your family members worked in textile mills? In what capacity? How did that influence your reading of the novel?

6. Does history repeat itself? What if anything have we learned from our history of class struggle?