Before We Sleep Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Folk and Bluegrass Music and our BookBrowse Review of Before We Sleep.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

About this book
Katey Snow, age seventeen, slips out of her house and into the night. She carries a bundle of letters between her mother, Ruth, and an old army friend of her father's. Katey has just learned that Oliver, whom she adores, is not her biological father. With this knowledge she takes off, searching for the man from the letters, who just might have some answers for her.

In Before We Sleep, master storyteller Jeffrey Lent tells the intertwining stories of Katey and Ruth. As Katey traverses the country, we learn of Ruth's life with Oliver: courtship, marriage, separation due to war , reconciliation. When Oliver returns, Ru th finds a changed man, along with many challenges for their relationship. Still , over the years Oliver and Ruth find a comfortable rhythm — until now, as Katey's disappea rance may irrevocably alter their lives .

Before We Sleep is an accomplished and sweeping novel about family, secrets and, ultimately, the meaning of love.


For discussion

1. How does the cover introduce the novel and its themes? Think about the image and the color scheme in relation to the broader work. Did the cover affect the way you approached the book? What emotions does the cover evoke in you?
2. Discuss the various points of views in the novel. Did you connect particularly to one POV? What effect do the POV switches have on your reading experience, particularly the one section devoted to Oliver's POV ?
3. Ruth's first section begins with a family history of the Hales. Meanwhile, Katey is on a search to find out more about her parentage. How does lineage play into both Ruth 's and Katey's stories? In what ways is it a comfort and in what ways does it burden them?

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