Where Coyotes Howl Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, Women Homesteaders of the West and our BookBrowse Review of Where Coyotes Howl.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Ellen knows nothing more about Montana than what she has read in Zane Grey books, yet she commits herself to teach for a year in Wallace. She is shocked to see Wallace, a desolate town on the High Plains, and even thinks about remaining on the train and continuing to California. What would make you pack up and move to a part of the country you've only read about in books? Would you have stayed when you saw how bleak the destination was? Could you have been a pioneer?
2. Ellen and Charlie fall in love at first sight. In fact, Charlie was smitten with Ellen's picture long before he met her. Do you believe love at first sight is possible?
3. Ruth McGinty is abused mentally and physically by her husband. Because she's barely educated and has no marketable skills, she has no option but to remain with him. What are abused women's options today? How much different are they from those of women who lived a hundred years ago?

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.