The Lady's Slipper (43 page)

1. In the novel, Richard says that it is not possible for him to pledge peace unless he were to live in a “golden age.” What sort of a golden age do you think he is imagining? And do you live in one now?

2. What does the lady’s slipper orchid represent to the various characters in the book? Why do you think that Alice’s slipper is such a potent symbol for Ella?

3. One of the reasons that Alice takes the lady’s slipper is because she wants to preserve it for future generations. Later she replaces it with an American orchid. In your view, was she preserving or violating the English countryside?

4. Both Richard and Hannah have a “religious experience” in the book. Which do you find the most convincing, and why? What makes an experience religious?

5. Stephen says of Ella Appleby: “She has given us lives we would never have anticipated.” Discuss Ella’s role and influence throughout the novel. To what extent do you think our lives are determined by the actions of other people?

6. Alice says that flowers have “a lost innocence, outside man-made time, the flower of a thousand years ago repeating itself over and over, reminding the world of nature’s order.” What do you think of this statement? How would you define “nature’s order”?

7. Geoffrey is in some respects the villain of the book. To what extent are his character traits a product of his upbringing and station in life? Some views that were acceptable in 1660 would be totally unacceptable today. Is our morality changing with the times? Or do you think there are aspects of our morality that are fixed?

8. Discuss Stephen’s use of disguise in the novel. What does he learn about his true nature by being someone else? Have you ever pretended to be something you are not for a particular purpose? How do you recognize the real you?

9. Richard Wheeler embarks on a journey from being a Quaker pacifist to becoming a soldier ready to defend his homeland. What is the meaning of “home” to Richard? What does it mean to you—and would you be willing to defend it with your life?

10. Ella says that she was “beginning to believe she really had seen the body of an old woman in that ditch. After she had claimed to see it, six more of the villagers, including Audrey and Tom, had unaccountably confirmed that they too had seen the Mistress bending over the body.” How does the “Rashomon effect,” in which observers of one event are able to produce different but equally plausible accounts of it, play out both in the novel and in real life?

The lady’s slipper orchid is Britain’s rarest wild flower. Thought at one time to be extinct, its decline is due to over-collection by botanists and it is found now on a single, fragile, natural site. Recently a propagation programme has been undertaken at Kew, supported by the Threatened Plants Appeal.

More information about this can be found at
www.kew.org.

First, thanks must go to the members of the Cypripedium Committee who have care of the species recovery programme for the lady’s slipper, and in particular Ian Taylor of English Nature who took the time to answer my questions.

I would also like to thank my friends from the MA in Creative Writing at Lancaster University (2007) for getting me started on writing this novel, and especially Vicky Delderfield who volunteered to read the book when it was finished and offer her comments.

Special thanks go to my husband John, the Windermere Book Group, the Thursday Writing Group, and all my tai chi friends for their interest and support.

Lastly, thanks to my agent Annette Green, my editor Will Atkins, and all at Macmillan New Writing for their enthusiasm for this book.