Reading guide for Fallen Land by Taylor Brown

Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. The black stallion, Reiver, is as much a character as any the people involved. What is his role in the story and what does he represent to Callum?
2. Were any of Callum's killings justifiable?
3. Is there a "turning point" in Ava and Callum's relationship where you can sense it deepening? What is it?
4. Why did the men so blindly follow the bounty hunter, especially Swinney, if they did not agree with him and his methods?
5. What made Ava trust Callum so implicitly when she didn't really know him?
6. Why did Callum risk everything for Ava?
7. A lot of emphasis is placed on the colors of certain horses in the story, from the black stallion, Reiver, to the Frenchman's cremello and the slave hunter's ash-colored mount. What might be the significance of each horse's color?
8. Why doesn't Callum shoot the boy who catches him stealing the red roan near the end of the story?
9. In Chapter 7, Ava says her father read the writings of a naturalist named Darwin. Why do Charles Darwin's theories seem to upset Callum when Ava explains them?
10. What sparks Callum's decision to leave Ava behind with the hog-raisers in Chapter 14?
11. What is the significance of Callum's dream in Chapter 10? How does it foreshadow events to come?
12. Ava stitches a "coat of many colors" for Callum. What does this coat mean to Callum, and how might it relate to Joseph's coat of many colors in the Book of Genesis?

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