The Lion Seeker Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

Print PDF

For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Voyage of the Damned and our BookBrowse Review of The Lion Seeker.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Gitelle is the main character in the prologue, but as the novel continues, Isaac becomes the focus. How does Gitelle, Isaac's mother, maintain a central role? Is this story hers or Isaac's?
   


2. Both parents, Gitelle in her emphatic admonitions and Abel in his subtle snippets, advise their children. Abel counsels Rively when she questions him about life, love, and God: "When my fingers are talking for me in my work then my heart is quiet, and my head, and that's when I sometimes can hear Him whispering. It's written that it's this whisper of God that sustains the world...You only have to have a good heart and to do what you love to do with a good heart, that's all you need in this world" (26). Is finding happiness this simple? How many characters appear to discover this peace: Abel, Isaac, Gitelle, Hugo, Avrom, Rively, Yvonne, Oberholzer? How does Gitelle's recurring advice differ, especially for Isaac?
   


3. Religion provides meaning in the Helger family. What does the Jewish faith mean to Gitelle, Abel, Isaac, and Rively? How are they the same? Different? Whose faith changes the most? Why?
   

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