1. When Iris gets the call from the psychiatric hospital, she is put in a very difficult position.  What does she stand to gain and lose from the decision she eventually makes? What would you do in her shoes?  If it were me, I'd be intrigued and would follow it up. I'd probably do exactly what Iris did.

2. How have years of incarceration affected Esme?  Has she retained any of the qualities we see in young Esme, before she is committed? Does she seem sane to you? I don't know, I did question if she was mentally ill or not, but I don't think she was. I thought it ironic that Kitty ended up mentally ill yet Esme spent her life in a madhouse. I saw Esme as pretty much the same person, still wanting to rebel. She liked how Iris looked like her mother but wore her hair in a way her mother would never have. And how she held her cup in a way her mother would've disapproved of. She also seemed to approve of Iris being single and living alone - I think it's how she would like to have lived her life.


3. The story contains several twists – what are they, and which did you find the most shocking? None of the twists shocked me. I worked them out bar the last one, which I thought was interesting, not shocking.

4. Considering all that Kitty has done, all that has happened to her, and the dementia she has suffered in old age, are you able to feel sympathetic towards her? Actually, no. Kitty could've helped Esme, but she chose not to. Even though she kept saying 'I never meant for her to...'
not once in 60 years did she think her sister deserved a life. Not once did Kitty attempt to talk to her sister. None of them, the parents, grandmother, Kitty - no one talked to one another so a lot of the problems stemmed from this lack of communication. I just thought 60 years is a long time to hold a grudge. I mean, how could you sleep at night, knowing?

5. The relationship between Iris and Alex is a complex one.  How does it seem to have influenced their relationships with others?  By the end of the novel, do you think they had reached any kind of resolution?
Iris doesn't want to commit to another man, I feel, because she has feelings for Alex that she keeps suppressed. She chooses men who are unlikely to commit to her. She too is held back by social norms even though she and Alex aren't blood related. I didn't feel they'd reached a resolution by the end of the book. I think they were close to doing so, but the book ended before we found out if they did or not. I don't think Iris had real feelings for Luke - it was as if she were dating him for the sake of it.

How did you find the end of the book?  Can you think of any alternative endings that might have worked? It did kind of peter out, but I liked the ending. We know that Iris knows Esme is her grandmother and that was enough for me. I like the open ending - lots of scope for discussion.

What similarities, and what differences do you see between the younger Esme, and the younger Iris? I saw Iris as how Esme might like to have been had she been free to express herself.

This is a novel with a very complex time scheme.  What techniques does the author use to handle this? I found it easy to know which temporal setting I was in; I liked how the author seamlessly transported us from the present to the past and back again via Esme and Kitty's viewpoints using what I can only describe as a 'fade-in, fade-out' technique. It was cleverly done. She'd pick part of Esme's present landscape, such as the sea, and link it to her past.

This has been described as Maggie O’Farrell’s best novel so far. Do you agree? It's been a while since I read After You'd Gone so cannot comment. It's certainly better than My Lover's Lover in my opinion.

The relationship between the sisters is very complicated. In what ways does it change as they enter adulthood? Kitty becomes interested in preparing herself for marriage, whereas Esme isn't interested in boys and wants to continue her education. 'Accomplishments' such as sewing bore her. Kitty's happy to conform; Esme isn't.

How do you think people’s attitudes towards unmarried mothers have changed since Esme was a young girl? How different would her life have been had she been able to keep her baby? Silly questions really. We all know attitudes have changed enormously, thank goodness. Gosh, I cannot begin to imagine how it must feel to have your baby taken from you without your consent, especially when you've done no wrong. She must've harboured so much bad feeling over the years, so it goes without saying that she'd have been tons happier had she been able to keep her child.

What do you feel the book tells us about mental institutions? Do you think people’s attitudes have changed since the first half of the 20th Century? It was so easy to be packed off to one!! Makes me wonder how many perfectly sane women were sent away by their families. Cauldstone came across as a cold and scary place. It annoys me to think most of the women simply needed love and affection from their loved ones and the reassurance of familiar surroundings such as home. For their families to talk to them and try to understand how they feel, not to send them to a harsh and unloving environment that'd send anyone round the bend. The people working in Cauldstone were just horrid. The injustice of it makes me grrrr! Especially as that cad Jamie got to live his life, even hold his son, albeit unwittingly. It was said he was packed off to a relation's somewhere so his mother knew he was up to no good. But was he sent off to a mental institution? Of course not, yet he should've stood trial for what he did to Esme.