Reading guide for Glassworks by Olivia Wolfgang-Smith

Reading Guide Questions

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Agnes's inherited wealth is due to her great-great-grandmother Elizabeth's partnership with "colonial she-merchant" Prudence Smith. Why do you think Elizabeth's and Prudence's stories are shared in this novel? What influence did their relationship have on Agnes?
2. How does the idea of wealth and inheritance weave throughout the story?
3. Why do you think the author chose to leave Agnes's husband nameless, calling him simply "her husband"?
4. After Ignace is stung by a honeybee, Agnes sketches it, and Ignace later creates a glass model of it. The honeybee is described as "dangerous with a power far beyond its size, but only at the price of self-annihilation." Are any of the characters like a honeybee? What might the tiny glass model represent for this family?
5. Why do you think Agnes and Ignace do not tell their son, Edward, about their past?
6. How does Edward's desire to be a man of faith affect his life and choices?
7. In what ways are the crafts of blown glass and stained glass similar? In what ways are they different? How might these crafts relate to Agnes's and Edward's stories?
8. Why do you think Novak chose to invite Cecily's parents to see her show?
9. After Novak realizes her mistake, she thinks: "Family could hurt you the way nothing else could." How has this been true for Novak? Is this true for any of the other characters?
10. Why do you think Cecily refuses to open the window for Novak? How does this decision affect the rest of her life?
11. What has Flip inherited from her namesake?
12. At Solid Memories, Denise fires cremains into keepsake glass ornaments. What might this symbolize for Flip? For her family?
13. What might the act of dumping the leftover cremains symbolize for Flip? For the four generations?
14. How do you think Flip's life will change now?

Recommended reading
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Family of Origin by CJ Hauser
Small Beauty by Jia Qing Wilson-Yang
The Thirty Names of Night by Zeyn Joukhadar
All My Rage by Sabaa Tahir
The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild by Thomas D. Seeley
Glass: A World History by Alan MacFarlane and Gerry Martin

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.