She Walks in Beauty (49 page)
6. The women in the late-Victorian era were put through a training regimen in order to prepare them to take on a role in society. What was that role? What is the role of young women today? In your opinion, what sort of training would be beneficial to the modern woman?
7. What sort of advice could Lizzie and Clara offer today’s women?
8. Do you think we’ve retained any attitudes, beliefs, or mores from the Victorians?
9. Fashions through the ages have often been created on the assumption that people aren’t shaped correctly. What apparent flaws does modern fashion try to correct? What is today’s ideal standard of beauty?
10. Society will tell you who you are and how to be until you decide to answer those questions for yourself. What has society been telling you?
11. Reading Jacob Riis’s
How the Other Half Lives
influenced Clara a great deal. Has there been a particular book that has opened your eyes in a similar way, challenging your point of view and your beliefs? How did it affect you, and why?
12. At one point, Clara and Harry have a conversation about God: “‘I must insist that you matter to [God] much more than you seem to realize.’ There was an earnestness to [Harry’s] words that reverberated inside me. If only he spoke the truth. I would like to believe that God cared for me. That He might love me no matter what anyone else thought. How nice it would be to live life with Harry’s convictions. To be so certain that God thought of us. And so quick to dismiss the thoughts of others.” Is it difficult for you to believe that God thinks of you? What kind of thoughts do you think He has?
For additional book club resources, visit
www.bethanyhouse.com/anopenbook
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A BOOK IS never the work of just one person, and this book, as all my others, had much help from a contingent of people I feel fortunate to call my friends. My agent, Beth Jusino, helped to start me down the right path. My editors, Dave and Sarah Long, helped me find a better way to express my ideas. And a chance exchange between Wendy Lawton and me added an extra layer of authenticity to these words.
Once again, as always, I am indebted to my readers Maureen Lang, Linda Derrick, ReAnn Johnson, and Trudy Mitchell for taking the time to comment on my drafts. And I cannot help, once again, mentioning my husband, Tony Mitchell, for always loving me just the way I am and never ceasing to tell me so.
