1. Who is the character you identify with most? Why?

2. The color blue is used metaphorically throughout the book to remind Claire and Kate that God is present in their stuggles. Some examples are the color of Rosemary's eyes, the kitchen cabinets in the new house in Blue Prairie and the dress Lara wears to Jennifer's wedding. Find a similar use or discuss one or all of these.

3. What would you do if you were faced with the same kind of situation Claire found herself in?

4. Why do you think Lara is sympathetic to hurting people?

5. Which character's heartaches can you identify with the most?

6. What are some ways God has used suffering to produce character in you or in someone you know?

7. The story in Why the Sky is Blue is told from the limited viewpoint of two of its characters. How     would the story be different if an all-knowing narrator told it?

8. Do you think Dan made a mistake, as he laments late in the book, when he insisted he and Claire give Lara up for adoption?

9. What does the title Why the Sky is Blue communicate to you? How would you explain it to someone who asked what the story was about based only seeing those five words?

10. Imagine the characters' lives 10 years from now. What do you see? Discuss.

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1. Do you identify more with quiet, shy Megan or confident, assertive Jen? As a child, did you befriend someone who was the opposite of yourself? Describe that friend.

2. Trina is a woman of faith, yet she often worries to excess about her daughter Megan. Can you relate to this? How are we to handle anxiousness about the safety of the people we love?

3. Before Jen's abduction Megan was beginning to realize how different she and Jen were. Do you think these two girls would have stayed best friends had they the chance to grow up together?

4. The canyon near Megan's house was her “window to the world,” giving her a view of how things really are in this beautiful, yet broken, world we live in. How do you think Megan felt when the canyon became a golf course? What descriptive words come to mind? Have you ever felt this way?

5. Megan and Adele, though years apart in age, develop a deep friendship from the get-go. Discuss reasons why.

6. Does Megan's close, but unromantic friendship with Charlie surprise you? Would she and Charlie been friends had Jen not disappeared?

7. Megan goes to great lengths to protect herself from hurt. What do people like Megan give up to hedge themselves in this way?

8. Discuss the differences between Megan and her sister, Michelle. How many of these differences do you feel are due to personality? How many are due to experience?

9. If you were Megan, would you have agreed to meet Jen alone without contacting the police? Would you have sought advice beforehand?

10. Have you ever returned to a childhood home, like Jen did, after years of being away? What was it like? What are some words that describe what a childhood home is like?

11. In what ways do you see that God has used your past to shape you?

12. What kind of future do you see for Megan and David? Where do you think they will be ten years from the last page in the book? Describe their future lives.

13. How do you think Megan's and Jen's relationship will develop following the reunion? Will they be close friends again?

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1. Tess and her father lived the “always-changing” lifestyle common to military families. How do you think this affected Tess growing up? How would it have affected you?

2. Why do you think Tess has had so many varied jobs and why has she changed her college major so many times?

3. Tess attaches heavy symbolic significance to a mother’s purse. Discuss reasons why she does that. What are some other things common to mothers that a child might attach extra meaning to?

4. When still mired in his own remorse, Simon accuses Tess of being “in love” with her pain? What does he mean by that? Is he right?

5. What do you think of Blair’s assumption that God is punishing her for keeping the locket and note? Why would she think this?

6. Tess lives with an inordinate sense of guilt regarding her mother’s death. How does she cope with it? How do men and women differ in the way they deal with guilt, real or imagined?

7. Of the three women — Tess, Blair or Jewel — whom do you identify with most? Who are you most like?

8. Corinthia Mayhew plays a significant role in Tess’s lifelong search to find a remedy for her regret. What do you like about Corinthia? Is there anything you don’t like about her?

9. Discuss Corinthia’s belief that people who live apart from God take on and master one of His characteristics as a way of filling the void that this “apartness” creates. Do you agree?

10. Did you clue in to the source of Tess’s misplaced guilt before she and Corinthia figured it out? What do you think of Tess’s reaction to the truth? How would you have reacted? What is your opinion of her father, Mark Longren? On a scale of 1 to 10, how much sympathy do you feel for him?

11. Discuss what might be the significance of Tess’s interest in maps. Where might this fascination stem from?

12. Though shocked, Tess’s Uncle Martin welcomes her into his house and heart. Was this the reaction you expected? How would the story have been different if he had not welcomed her? Would Tess still have found peace?

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1. Who do you think the woman in the green dress represents, if anything? (There are no wrong answers here — only personal interpretation!)

2. Luke found himself stuck in his manuscript before his father’s stroke, before returning to Halcyon.  Why do you think he came up against writer’s block?

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the least, how much do you think Norah and Téa are alike? How do you arrive at your answer?

4. Do you think there is any special significance to the character Eden Damaris being deaf? Do you think there are underlying reasons why Luke made her that way?

5. Luke’s return to Halcyon is unsettling for him in many ways. Have you ever returned to your hometown after years of being away? What was it like?

6. How much sympathy do you have for Nell? How about Darrel? Have you met people like these two? Why, in your opinion, do some people end up living such unfulfilled lives?

7. The tree house becomes a refuge for Luke, and later for Norah, too.  Discuss the placement of the tree house between the two houses.  What is its significance to the story?  Discuss its survival throughout the years.

8. Describe your first impression of Norah when you meet her at the age of six.  Does your impression change as she grows up within the story?

9. Why do you think Kieran invents an imaginary playmate? Do you think Luke and Norah handled this situation the best way?  What would you have done? 

10. What role does Goose Pond play? Is there significance in Norah’s attempting to touch the bottom and being unable to?

11. Re-read Norah’s poem about the whales.  What does Norah reveal about herself in the verses?  Are there hidden things there that the reader can pick up but Norah herself is unaware of?  What does the poem mean to you?

12. Consider Luke’s immediate family members. What are some key description words for his father, Jack?  How about his mother, Mary Ann?  And his brother Ethan?

13. At which ages do you identify with Luke and Norah the most (or enjoy them the most)? 8 and 6? 12 and 10? 15 and 13? Or 17 and 15?

14. How surprised were you when you read what happened to Kieran in Nell’s driveway? How about when MaryAnn revealed what ultimately become of Kieran and Norah after they left Halcyon?

15. Describe your take on Norah’s response when Luke finds her in Colorado. Luke admits to her he made a horrible mistake.  Do you agree?  What should he have done differently?  Would it have changed anything?

16. The writer of Ecclesiastes says that God has set eternity in our hearts, that we are wired to long for heaven.  Discuss your understanding of this verse.

17. Do you think Norah will agree to come to Luke and Téa’s house for Thanksgiving?  Where do you see Luke and Norah ten years after the story ends?  What is their relationship like?

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1. A Seahorse in the Thames opens with Alexa realizing she is falling in love with Stephen after knowing him less than a week. Why do you think that has happened? Why does it surprise her? Would it surprise you if you were Alexa?

2. Alexa thinks of Priscilla as her smarter half; her mirror image—only wiser, more intuitive. Is Priscilla really more intelligent than Alexa? Why does Alexa have this view of Priscilla?

3. Clement the seahorse serves as a metaphor in the story for finding beauty in unexpected places. Has this ever happened to you? Describe a time in your life when you knelt down to hunt for something lovely in a place where it didn’t seem like it could exist.

4. Discuss the twins’ mother, Eileen Poole. What are her flaws? What are her strengths? How does she deal with tragedy? Can you identify with her?

5. What do you think of Priscilla’s decision to cut off communication with her father, escape to Europe and maintain minimal contact with Alexa and her mother? What about her decision to keep Isabel a secret? Do you empathize? Why or why not?

6. How do you think Alexa and Rebecca’s relationship changed after Rebecca’s accident? Why do you suppose it affected Alexa differently than everyone else?

7. Discuss why Alexa likes living near the ocean. What does her view of the ocean say about her character?

8. Alexa’s motivation to find Rebecca after she has disappeared eclipses everyone else’s. Why do you suppose that is true? How would you have reacted?

9. Does Alexa’s infant brother Julian play a role in the story? Describe what that might be.

10. When Alexa found the check from Gavin McNeil in Rebecca’s shoebox, what went through your mind? Did your opinion of Rebecca change? Did it change when it was revealed why she had the check?

11. What do you think happened the night Rebecca and Leanne were in the car accident? Start with what you think Rebecca told Leanne before she came to pick her up. What happened next?

12. Priscilla comes back to the United States not so much to help find Rebecca but for another reason entirely. What is that reason? How does she accomplish it? What do you think of how she confronted her father?

13. Alexa describes the ache of loving people as the “most wonderful pain in the world.” What does she mean by this? Do you agree? Why or why not?

14. What was your reaction to Rebecca’s reason for disappearing? Joy for her? Fear?

15. Alexa ends her narrative with a firm hand on that lovely thing called hope. Where do you see Alexa in a year’s time?

16. What does Rebecca’s letter, which is the epilogue, communicate to you? What is its purpose for the story itself? Read it aloud and discuss.

1. Who was your favorite character in the book? Or who did you identify with the most?

2. How do you feel about what Josh did to protect Choua – confessing to killing the grpcery store owner? 

3. Rachael is beginning to realize God has gifted her in a special way, a way she is having trouble getting her mind and heart to accept. Why do you think she is just now realizing her gift of heightened intuition?

4. Rachael is a first born. What are some of the qualities you see in her that you see real first-born people you know. Why do you think she is so close to her brother even though they are so different?

5. Josh’s parents struggle to accept the life Josh has chosen for himself. Do you identify with their frustration? Would you feel the same way? What could they have done differently? What could Josh have done differently?

6. When Rachael is being shown the basement where the murder took place, she is overcome with the sensation that evil had been present in that room. Have you ever felt the presence of evil like that?

7. Did you think Joshua was capable of killing a man? Were you surprised at what he was actually guity of?

8. Why do you suppose God instructs his people to especially care for widows and orphans? What do you make of the verse that Josh has taken for his life’s creed: Pure religion is this: “To look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”

9. What role do Fig and the other artists play in the story? What purpose do you see them fulfilling by being in the story? (There are no wrong answers!) 

10. The last line in the book is Rachael saying to the reporters, “Let me tell you about my brother.” What do you think she tells them?

1. What other options did Daisy have for her wedding dress besides opening a boutique to sell it? Which option would you have chosen?

2. Why do you think Daisy addresses all her journal entries to an imaginary advisor? Is that one of Daisy’s strengths, weaknesses or merely a quirk?

3. What is the significance of the little blue heart? To Daisy? To everyone else?

4. Why do you think Father Laurent agrees to bless the hearts? Do you think he believes they make a difference?

5. Were you hoping that something would spark between Daisy and Max? Why or why not?

6. Which of the tenants in the old Finland Hotel did you identify with the most?

7. Daisy feels cheated out of having more time with her father. Can you relate? How do you think this longing figures in to her choices before she opened Something Blue. And after?

8. What kind of significance does the rooftop play in this story? Does this setting detail matter to the story? To you?

9. At one point, Daisy imagines her father having a conversation with Daniel in which her father says this: “Marriage isn’t about what makes sense, Daniel. It’s about what completes you. If you and Daisy complete each other, then marriage isn’t what makes sense. Marriage is that which seals what is already whole.” Do you agree or disagree?

10. Father Laurent takes on the obvious father role in Daisy’s life. Do you think Daisy also meets a need in their relationship? How?

11. Daisy calls the little blue hearts “an emblem of hope.” What are some other emblems of hope? What has been an emblem of hope in your life?

12. Daisy and Max have a conversation on pg. 103 where Daisy suggests that special thing that sets true love apart is something akin to magic. Max says this: “No, it’s not magic. Every trick I do is just manipulation and misdirection. I can’t believe that’s what true love is like.” What do you think sets true love apart? Is Max right or wrong?

13. Father Laurent says this to Daisy on pg. 131: “. . .You’ve been designed for a deeper love than you are looking for. We all have. The love you find in God and the love he gives you to give away to others is what you’re really after, Daisy. It’s what we all long for. And no one can keep you from having it and having it in abundance. No one but you.” What are your thoughts on this statement?

14. What are Ramsey’s deepest longings? What are his flaws? His strengths?

15. Daisy realizes on pg. 220 that she’s always been a planner, has always orchestrated everything in her life, and she’s finally come up against something she cannot plan - love with the perfect soul mate. Can you relate to this need of Daisy’s to be in control?

16. What is the significance of the wedding dress that Daisy acquires on pg. 224, now that you know how the book ends?

17. At the book’s conclusion, did you have a different expectation of what Daisy should have done with her dress?