Meet with the Author

The following are some discussion questions for your book club.  Please email me with other suggestions that come up during your book club.

• What is the meaning of the book's title? How does it connect with the relationships among the characters? Who is waiting by the gate, either figuratively or literally?

• Why do you think Julia was so bitter and angry?  Why is it the only people who seemed to care about her were Bessie's children?

• The characters in the book represent most of the ways women relate to each other - as sisters, mothers and daughters, friends, and co-workers.  How is each role different, and how are they alike?

• Do you know anyone who saw people from the next world when they were either ill or close to death? Did it bring them comfort?

• Each of the men in the story cared deeply about the women they loved, and yet with the exception of Michael, they somehow failed to adequately convey that love. Do you think they were aware of that? If each woman had communicated her needs better, do you think it would have changed the dynamics of their relationships?  

• How much of Dana's sadness and loss were of her own doing, and how much was simply the hand she was dealt?  What could she realistically have done to re-write her story to have a happier ending?

• Do you think there can ever be a substitute for a mother's love to fill that empty space in each of us? How did Dana compensate for the lack of a loving mother? Do you think in the end she was successful?

• What lessons did Kirby learn from her mother? How might that change her life going forward?