Secrets of a Charmed Life (34 page)

1. What did you enjoy most about
Secrets of a Charmed Life
? What do you think will stay with you?

2. Would you describe the novel as a story about sisters or a story about mothers and
daughters?

3. Discuss the secrets that the characters keep from one another. What facts does Annie hide from her daughters? What do Emmy and Julia not tell the men they eventually marry? What does Charlotte keep to herself, and when does she finally reveal the truth? Can you think of even more secrets in the novel?

4. How is this book different from other books you’ve read about World War Two?

5. Describing Emmy, Susan Meissner writes in the novel, “She stood at a crossroads, half-aware that her choice would send her down a path from which there could be no turning back. But instead of two choices, she saw only one—because it was all she really wanted to see. . . .” Has there ever been a time when you couldn’t see the other choices open to you?

6. Later in her life Julia writes in her journal: “Fear does not start to fade until you take the step that you think you can’t.” Do you agree? What is Julia afraid of when she writes this?

7. How similar or dissimilar are Emmy and her mother? Does Emmy have an accurate view of the kind of person her mother is?

8. Isabel tells Kendra that there are no secrets to a charmed life. There is only the task of forgiving ourselves for being able to make only our own choices, and no one else’s. What do you think she means by this?

9. What do the sketches of brides’ dresses represent to Emmy?

10. What are Emmy’s reasons for choosing to remain Isabel throughout her adult life? Would you have done the same?

11. Did you find the novel ultimately uplifting and inspiring? Why, or why not?

12. On one level, the novel is about losing something very precious. What’s the most precious thing you’ve ever lost? What were the consequences?

13. Have you ever lived through a time of war, or of social chaos? It might have been a major life-threatening event, or merely an unsettling situation. Would you like to share your experience? How does it compare to what Emmy and Julia go through?

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