The Stranger's Child Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Victorian Grandeur and its Fate and our BookBrowse Review of The Stranger's Child.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Much of The Stranger's Child concerns attempts to get at the truth of Cecil Valance. What does the novel as a whole say about our ability to truly know another person? In what ways does it illustrate the limits of our knowing? Do we as readers of the novel know Cecil more accurately than George, Daphne, Dudley - even Sebastian Stokes? What about Paul Bryant?



2. What role does keeping secrets play in the The Stranger's Child? Why do so many characters feel compelled to lead secret lives?



3. Several characters are said to have had "a bad war," suffering from what would now be described as post traumatic stress disorder. How has the war affected Dudley Valence and Leslie Keeping in particular? In what ways does World War I cast a shadow over the entire novel?

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