Book club questions for ‘The True’

For book club members

I am really delighted that you’ve chosen to read The True in your book club. What an honour for me! Of course, I very much hope you enjoy my book but, equally, I accept that we all look for different things in a novel and one novel can’t please everyone.

As a member of a book club myself, I know that a few key questions or thoughts can really get the conversation flowing, so I hope that the following might be useful to you.

I would always be pleased to hear your feedback if you choose to share it, and if you have any questions about what I wrote or why, please feel free to get in touch.

Lastly, as a self-published author without a marketing budget behind me, if you’re able to help me with a review somewhere online, I’d be most appreciative as that really is the only way word can spread about The True.

Thank you,
Amanda

Some suggested questions to consider

1. How would you describe The True to someone? Genre? Suited to any age? Nature-writing? Historical? Fantasy? Magical realism?
2. Which character were you most drawn to and why?
3. What is your view of how the story ended for Hawk? Did Sam just abandon him?
4. What do you think happened to Silas? And do you care?
5. Was there one scene which captured your imagination more than others?
6. Did you feel the author handled the movement of one time period to another well, or did you get confused?
7. Was the pace and length of the story about right?Did you like the ending?
8. Why did the author give her chapters titles?
9. The story has various themes. For the author, the story is about belonging – to each other and Nature. Which were the strongest/most important themes for you?
10. Why do you think the author chose to personify the trees and most natural elements? Do you think it worked?
11. Has this book made you feel differently about trees? If so, is that important?
12. The fellowship of the True is imagined, but various readers have told Amanda that they looked up the True on Google to see if there was any basis for them in fact. Would you like to be a tree reader?
13. The author was originally going to entitle the book ‘Tree Readers’. Did she make the right decision?
14. If you could tree jump, where would you go?
15. Do you think the cover works?
16. Many of the places and landmarks in the book are real (some unchanged, some having been given different names). Has the book made you interested in visiting Northumberland or Durham if you’re not currently familiar with them?
17. Some of the items significant to the story are: Eleanor/Sam’s acorn pendant, the Every Tree and the Book of the True, Eleanor’s embroidery, Sam’s whittled wooden bottle, the record player, Eleanor’s rock carving, the sketch of Joe’s mam, the print of Hawk in Kate’s favourite cafe, Sam’s wooden counter. Which, if any, will stay with you the longest?
18. What feeling did the book leave you with?
19. Would you read another book by this author?
    

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