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READERS’
GUIDE TO
JULIA FAIRCHILD: A NOVEL
BY
LOUISE GAYLORD
These
questions have been designed to help you think more deeply
about Julia Fairchild. Use them as starting points or triggers for your book group discussion.
Choose
five to ten to generate lively conversation.
CAUTION:
It is likely that the following questions may reveal
or, at least, allude to key plot twists and turns. If
you have not read the book, but are planning on doing
so, you may wish to proceed with caution to avoid spoiling
your experience.
1. Julia Fairchild left her
stately East Coast roots and landed in New Mexico for
a fresh start, “a million miles and a lifetime away from
her wealthy upbringing.” Have you ever wanted to leave
your past behind to begin again? If so, where would you
like to go, and what kind of new life can you imagine
for yourself?
2. Why didn’t Mac tell Julia
about his long-term relationship with Emaline Pierce,
and their broken engagement? What kind of man withholds
important personal information from his future wife?
What do you learn about Mac from this kind of behavior?
3. If Julia is totally smitten
with her fiancé, why is she so drawn to her emergency
room physician, Dr. Steve Duke—“El Gato”—a known womanizer?
Why would she pursue Dr. Duke at all? Revenge? One last
spin before marriage or . . . ? What is Julia really
longing for in a relationship?
4. Why does Mac get involved
with Emaline Pierce after the party during which his
father dies, knowing full well it will threaten his relationship
with Julia? Why do people do “stupid” things when they
know better? Could you forgive Mac for what he did with
Emaline? How would you have handled the situation if
you were Julia?
5. Julia was brought up to
expect a Tiffany diamond solitaire engagement ring, not
a turquoise and silver Navajo antique. How does the ring
symbolize the differences between her past life and her
future?
6. Incest is illegal and
immoral. Were you shocked when you discovered that Emaline
and Frank were actually half sister and half brother,
and had been having an affair for years on end? Did you
have an inkling about this situation before it was revealed?
How did you feel when you found out?
7. What did you think of
Ed Pierce when you first met him? Did you suspect the
degree of inhumanity and deceit in this character? Do
you feel he had any redeeming qualities? If he was such
a monster, did you feel any sadness when he was murdered,
or do you think he deserved it? How do you rationalize
that kind of response?
8. Jorge Perez-Gasca, Julia’s
birth father, articulates a key teaching in this novel.
He says, “I suspect you still see everything in black
and white. But that is not real life. The older you become,
the more you will find most of what we experience is
captured in tones of gray.” This man speaks of forgiveness,
compassion, and understanding. How do the key characters
in the book come to understand and forgive one another?
Is that something we all need to do, no matter what people
do to us?
9. When Ed Pierce is murdered,
a number of key characters fit the guilty profile. Who
did you think killed Ed Pierce, or did you assume it
was suicide? Were you surprised when you found out “who
done it”?
10. The word Nizhoni is
the only word printed in italics throughout the story.
Mac uses it to describe meeting Julia: “Something made
me turn North to find you. . . . At that moment we were Nizhoni. Walking in beauty.” And then, “Why can’t we be Nizhoni again?” It seems to mean beauty, as well as to encompass the notion of fate
or kismet. Do you believe in fate? Do you believe that
people meet for a reason? How has fate played a part
in creating your most significant relationships?
11. Dolores is introduced
as “offbeat,” with an “animal beauty.” She isn’t an easy
character to like, but she grows and changes more than
many of her family members. How does she use the challenges
and difficulties in her life to become a more evolved
person? Do you find yourself shifting from disliking
her intensely, to finding her almost endearing? When
and how does that shift take place in the story?
12. It’s hard to tell the
good guys/heroes from the villains/bad guys in this rich
and feisty book of life’s feuds and escapades. Who is
your favorite leading man or lady? Why? Do you identify
with their scruples and strengths, or find some kind
of voyeuristic delight in their transgressions? Why do
you believe we all enjoy reading about other people’s
misbehavior?
13. Does this book seem like
it could be turned into a movie? If so,
who would you cast as the lead characters? What actors would play Julia Fairchild?
Mac? Dr. Duke? Emaline and Frank? How about Dolores? Why?
14. Describe Julia Fairchild.
What is it about her that makes such an impression on
everyone she meets? Beyond her beauty, what is so riveting
about her?
15. Right from the start,
Julia has doubts about many of her choices. Though generally
confident, she questions whether she can become a part
of the eccentric and powerful Valley family of her fiancé,
Mac Brantley. How do her doubts drive her often irrational
behavior throughout the book? What really stands between
her and her dream-come-true life?
16. What are some of Dr.
Duke’s positive qualities? What have you gleaned from
his portrait that reveals why is he so afraid of having
a mature, intimate relationship?
17. Once you found out Emaline
was sexually molested by her father, did you feel more
compassion for her, and her endless transgressions? Why?
18. Why is Frank so ruthless,
cavalier, and raucous? Does his early history follow
him wherever he goes? How does he become a softer, more
likable person as the story comes to a climax?
19. Did you ever wish Mac
would just run off with his assistant, the lovely Navajo,
Sylvia Chee? Were you rooting for them? How about wishing
Julia would end up with Steve Duke? Did the book tie
up loose ends the way you wanted it to? If not, how would
you have preferred? Who is with whom, and why?
20. There are so many red
flags waving throughout the story. Characters can sense
that others are not trustworthy, that something isn’t
quite right, that people often are saying one thing but
really meaning another. In spite of the red flags, they
all still walk into the storm. List some red flags in
the story, and then in your own life, and explain how
you dealt with them. Why do humans so often tend to ignore
red flags?
21. With which characters
do you empathize the most? Do they react the way you
think you would in similar situations? Do you find their
actions troubling? Which character do you find the most
engaging? Why? Do you identify with this person’s behavior/life
experience? Or, do you find they might be the “shadow
side” of you—more like the opposite of yourself?
22. The author minimally
describes the psychological states of her characters,
but she does focus on one key area of the body—chosen
more than a dozen times—to illuminate how Mac, Julia,
Frank, and others feel: “Her heart was in her throat”
. . . “Bile rushed into his throat” . . . “Rage caught
in his throat” . . . “A vise gripped his throat.” Why
does the author choose the throat as a key area of focus?
How do those succinct words sum up the much vaster internal
condition of her characters’ hearts and minds? What is
she really telling us?
23. This story reveals the
underbelly of the human condition. In spite of love and
family, people behave in terrible and cruel ways. How
do the geography of the location and Mother Nature herself
mirror the extremes of the leading characters’ behavior?
Consider: the blinding blue sky . . . damaging, sharp
hailstones . . . the lightning that almost kills . .
. and red hot chile peppers—first fragile seedlings,
then shiny robust plants, and, eventually, a fully mature
crop—almost annihilated.
24. The story revolves around
lust and love. What is the difference? How can a person
identify which is which? Even though Julia is a therapist,
she still has issues with discernment when it comes to
love. How does she make this judgment call?
25. It seems that everyone
has secrets. How are the secrets of the key characters
revealed, and how do they contribute to the complexity
of each person? How do they unravel as the story unfolds?
26.
Do you think the author plan a sequel? If so, what will
happen next, and to whom?
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