Dr. Alice M asked Janet Benton:

Our book club will be discussing your book this Tuesday, Nov. 14. What additional items would you want to add about the historical background? Is there anything you wish all book clubs would include in the discussion of your book? Thanks Alice Laurendine

Janet Benton Dear Alice, I'm so pleased to hear that your book club is reading my book. As for historical background, the author's note at the end of the book supplies a lot of background on the novel's underpinnings, and if anyone has specific questions, I would be pleased to answer them here. if you'd like. regarding things to discuss, there is a discussion guide that my publisher's marketing person and I wrote for the Penguin Random House site. it is easily available for download at my website, www.JanetBentonauthor.com. There is a tab called Excerpt and Discussion Questions. One thing that I always like to mention when I visit a book club, if I get the chance,, is that my novel is in part an homage to so many Victorian novels I have loved, including Jane Eyre, Tess of the d'Urbervilles, and The Scarlet Letter. I don't know if that will add to your discussion, but maybe it will. Let me know how it goes! And please pass my best wishes to the group. Janet

flag