Lick Creek Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

1. In the opening pages of Lick Creek, Emily tries to imagine what it is like to work in the coal mines. "There's a power inside the earth," her brother Delmar tells her, making her jealous of this mysterious underground world from which women are excluded. In what other ways is Emily's life circumscribed by having been born female? Discuss the contrasting picture Brad Kessler paints of the lives of men and the lives of women.
   


2. Emily loves Gianni with a simple trust and spontaneity that stands in stark contrast to the reluctant manner in which she later allows herself to fall for Joseph. How has her ability to love and trust been affected by the coal mine disaster that took the lives of her father, brother, and childhood sweetheart? By her smoldering resentment of the power company Joseph works for? And by the bitter aftereffects of her encounter with Robert Daniels?
   


3. Set in the remote mining country of West Virginia, Lick Creek has as its historical background the introduction of electric power to the region in the late 1920s. Kessler's tale examines the relentless march of progress that threatens to totally transform rural life without bringing any immediate benefits to the people. In addition to the human cost of progress, what other themes does Brad Kessler explore? Discuss the clash of cultures and classes that the novel portrays. In what ways does the plight of this one Appalachian farm family illuminate what one critic has called "the quintessential American story of the struggle between the powerful and the powerless"?
   

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Scribner. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.