Moonlight on Butternut Lake (34 page)

About the author

Meet Mary McNear

About the book

Reading Group Discussion Questions

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More from Mary McNear

Meet Mary McNear

MARY MCNEAR
is a writer living in San Francisco with her husband, two teenage children, and a high-strung, minuscule white dog named Macaroon. She writes her novels in a local donut shop where she sips Diet Pepsi, observes the hubbub of neighborhood life, and tries to resist the constant temptation of freshly-made donuts. She bases her novels on a lifetime of summers spent in a small town on a lake in the northern Midwest.

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Reading Group Discussion Questions

1. Mila has always taken care of herself. As a child she got herself to school, made her own meals, and did her homework with little help from anyone. When she was a young adult, she got a job to help her mom pay the bills and paid her own way through community college. She becomes responsible, self-reliant, and develops a strong work ethic—all good qualities. But what's missing? What qualities must Mila embrace if she is to find happiness?

2. Throughout the novel, Mila expresses a longing for a childhood she did not have. She longed to live in a picturesque small town like Butternut instead of the “hardscrabble” neighborhood where she grew up. She longed to have a mother who did fun things with her, taught her to swim, and took her to picnics and events. How is longing different than envy? How does Reid show Mila that it is not too late to have some of those things she longed for as a child?

3. Mila and Reid's relationship got off to a pretty rocky start. At what point did their relationship change direction? And what precipitated this change?

4. Buoyancy, or a lack of buoyancy, is a theme throughout the novel:
Mila's feels “lighter without her wedding ring to weigh her down”; Mila imagines sinking “like a stone” to the bottom of the lake; Allie teaches Mila how to float in the water and she feels weightless and free; Mila feels “buoyed” the first time she flees Brandon; Reid feels “lightness” and weightlessness while watching Mila learn to swim. What does buoyancy represent for Mila and Reid? Why is it important?

5. Although Mila's mother is depicted as a disinterested and, somewhat, neglectful parent with an alcohol problem, Mila never condemns her. However, Mila's develops friendships with three women older than herself: Heather, Lonnie, and Ms. Thompson. How are these women different from her mother? And what kind of relationship does Mila have with them.

6. Unlike Mila, Reid is bitter about his childhood. He's angry that his father wasn't there for him and he's jealous of his father's closeness to his half sister, Chloe. How did this bitterness bring about Reid's accident and prolong his recovery? What allows Reid to finally overcome these feelings and move on?

7. Reid comes to the realization that his relentless drive to be successful in the boatyard business, largely
inspired by a need to prove himself to his father, had eclipsed the pleasure he took in working with boats. Some people are driven by a desire to “show,” or outdo, their own parents, or in some cases to “settle a score.” Is this kind of motivation inherently destructive? Why was Reid unable to get any satisfaction from his success? How does Reid resolve to change things?

8. The closer Reid gets to Mila the more he sees her as radiating light: her skin is “lit from within”; her nightgown glows in the moonlight; her hands are translucent and like the “velvety touch of the moonlight itself”: her skin glows faintly in the “near darkness”; Reid sees a “flicker of light” in her eyes. Why would Reid perceive Mila this way? Does this perception have anything to do with his own state of mind after the accident? And how is moonlight used to reveal both Reid's feelings about Mila and the development of Reid and Mila's relationship?

9. Brandon is controlling and abusive toward Mila. He sees her as a possession, not an independent person. In the course of their relationship he works to isolate her from her friends and prevents her from achieving her goal to be a nurse. In the novel, how does he rationalize his belief that Mila's
feelings and choices are irrelevant? And are these characteristics common in abusive men?

10. Although Mila's initial interest in being a nurse may have been inspired by her childhood admiration for Heather, her interest does not wane as she grows older. Why is nursing a good career choice for Mila?

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More from Mary McNear

For more books by Mary McNear check out:

BUTTERNUT LAKE: THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS

You're invited to Christmas at Butternut Lake!
New York Times
and
USA Today
bestselling author Mary McNear, author of
Up at Butternut Lake
and
Butternut Summer
, takes us home for the holidays in this joyful e-original novella.

Butternut Lake is so beautiful at Christmas—from the delightfully decorated shops, to the cozy homes with their twinkling lights outside, to the lake itself. And this year so much is happening!

A wedding
: Caroline meticulously plans her perfect Christmastime dream wedding to Jack, remarrying him after many years apart.

A baby
: Allie and Walker are expecting the best Christmas gift of all—their first baby together.

A reunion
: Daisy, Caroline and Jack's daughter, is returning home after a long semester away at college.

But what's Christmas without complications? Walker smothers Allie with worry; Daisy pines for her true love, Will, away in the army. And then the unthinkable happens—and Caroline's wedding plans are ruined.

And just when it seems all is lost, the people of Butternut Lake come together to give their friends the greatest gifts of all. . . .

BUTTERNUT SUMMER

Every summer on Butternut Lake the tourists arrive, the shops open, and the waves lap its tree-lined shores, just as they have for years. But this season everything changes for one mother and daughter who've always called the lake home. . . .

Caroline's life is turned upside down the moment her ex-husband, Jack, strides through the door of her coffee shop. He seems changed—stronger, steadier, and determined to make amends with Caroline and their daughter, Daisy. Is he really different, or is he the same irresistibly charming but irresponsible man he was when he left Butternut Lake eighteen years ago? Caroline, whose life is stuck on pause as her finances are going down the tubes, is tempted to let him back into her life . . . but would it be wise?

For Caroline's daughter, Daisy, the summer is filled with surprises. Home from college, she's reunited with the father she adores—but hardly knows—and swept away by her first true love. But Will isn't what her mother wants for her—all Caroline can see is that he's the kind of sexy “bad boy” Daisy should stay away from.

As the long, lazy days of summer pass, Daisy and Caroline come to realize that even if Butternut Lake doesn't change, life does. . . .

UP AT BUTTERNUT LAKE

It's summer, and after ten years away, Allie Beckett has returned to the family cabin beside tranquil Butternut Lake, where as a teenager she spent so many carefree days. She's promised her five year old son, Wyatt, they will be happy there. She's promised herself this is the place to begin again after the death of her husband in Afghanistan. The cabin holds so many wonderful memories, but from the moment she crosses its threshold Allie is seized with doubts. Has she done the right thing uprooting her little boy from the only home he's ever known?

Allie and her son are embraced by the townsfolk, and her reunions are joyous ones—with her friend Jax, now a young mother of three with one more on the way, and Caroline, the owner of the local coffee shop. And then there are newcomers like Walker Ford, who mostly keeps to himself—until he takes a shine to Wyatt . . . and to Allie.

Everyone knows that moving forward is never easy, and as the long, lazy days of summer take hold, Allie must learn to unlock the hidden longings of her heart, and to accept that in order to face the future we must also confront—and understand—what has come before.