Christine Falls Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, and our BookBrowse Review of Christine Falls.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

About this Guide
The following author biography and list of questions about Christine Falls are intended as resources to aid individual readers and book groups who would like to learn more about the author and this book. We hope that this guide will provide you a starting place for discussion, and suggest a variety of perspectives from which you might approach Christine Falls.


About the Book
Set in Dublin and Boston in the 1950s, the story of a surly, hard-drinking pathologist named Quirke who uncovers a conspiracy that begins with his brother-in-law and reaches deep into Dublin's Catholic society--and into his own past.


Discussion Questions

1. "In secret," the author writes, "Quirke prized his loneliness as a mark of some distinction" (pg. 12). What does Quirke's loneliness do for him? How does it make possible what he ultimately accomplishes in the story?
   Is Quirke's isolation part of what allows him to see the truth about the conspiracy around him?
2. What does Crawford mean when he says to Quirke that America is "the New World", that "This is the place. God's country". How are Ireland and America treated differently in the novel?
   How do these portrayals relate to the current America and Ireland?
3. Do the revelations about Quirke, Phoebe, and what he knew about their relationship change your perception of how he treated her earlier in the novel? Why do you think Quirke kept the secret so long of who her parents were? Was it the right decision?

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