READERS GUIDE
1. At various points in this story, Cammie is urged to “bloom where you’re planted.” How does this theme recur, both literally and figuratively, as Ginger, Kat, and Cammie struggle to adapt to life at the vineyard?
2. Ginger decides to pursue her wildest dream only after she believes she has terminal cancer. If you received a similar diagno- sis, what would you regret not having done?
3. Cammie inherits money and the recipe for strawberry wine from her mother, and in the end, both of these shape her future. What are the most important legacies (material and emotional) you’ve gotten from your parents and grandparents?
4. In the throes of an identity crisis, Kat puts her relationship in crisis. Do you have any empathy for the way she behaved at the beginning of the story? What relationship advice would you have given Kat if she had come to you?
5. Bronwyn finished school before planning her wedding, but was initially willing to forgo a once-in-a-lifetime educational opportunity to be with her husband. In your opinion, are there certain items you should check off your “life list” before getting married? If so, what?
6. Ian and Cammie started a habit of walking the fields and “counting the rows,” which Jacques the French bulldog eagerly joins in on. What do you think might be calming about this rit- ual, and do you have any similar rituals in your own life?
7. Cammie and Ian parted ways at age twenty-two because they were drastically different people who wanted drastically different things. Years later, they reunite and agree to compromise, but they’re still very different. How did each one change to make compromise possible?
8. Every year, Ian buys a copy of the Farmers’ Almanac, which he says is unreliable . . . “but it might be.” What does this supersti- tion say about him and the farming life?
9. Ginger spent most of her life trying to compensate for Kat’s lack of a father and Cammie’s lack of a mother. To what extent is she “owed” their support in her vineyard venture? At what point in a child’s life should parents be able to return their focus to their own goals and personal relationships?