When I was trying to think of book club questions for your group to discuss, I remembered the questions people had asked me about the book. Here are some of them. I will add more as they come up.
Things to consider
- The book begins with Martin watching his friend and professor being burned for sedition. At the end of the book Catherine is being burned as a witch. Has anything changed during that time? How did Martin change his thoughts on both politics and religion? Did he overcome his “weakness” as he considered it? Did he have other weaknesses that he ignored?
- Catherine was a shy country girl with very little knowledge of the outside world at the beginning of the book. Her life experiences changed her into an outspoken woman. What were some of them? Did her growth help her in the end or did it end up sealing her fate?
- Francisca suffered a horrific childhood. In what ways did it make her into the person she became? Did she take too many chances or was she right about “God creating the plants that she used?” Would God have given us the ability to use his creations if they would condemn us?
- Did Nicolas’s relationship with Salome ultimately cause Catherine’s demise? Was Salome right to hate Nicolas? How could that situation have been handled better?
- The troubadour hated so many people in the end. His mother died. He lost his career. Was he justified in his feelings? Was he responsible for what happened to Catherine?
- One glaring topic in the book that is just as relevant today as it was 400 years ago is abortion. When I started writing this book I had no idea the issue of abortion would become the fiery topic that it is today. It was not considered murder in 1600. The only punishment was excommunication. Today, religious are pressuring politicians to make it illegal. Why would centuries of Popes ignore this issue then and now, and throughout all of history?