READERS GUIDE

Reader’s Guide
The Forgotten Cottage by Courtney Ellis
Discussion Questions:


1.   Audrey first feels kinship with Emilie after finding her nurse uniform. Apart from their shared experience with this work, what other parallels are drawn between Audrey and her great-grandmother?

2.   There are many women who influence Emilie in her journey: her mother, Lady Thurston, Sister Allen, and even Isaac’s fictional character, Captain Ridley. What do you think is the most important lesson she learns from each of them? What women have influenced your own life?

3.   Isaac’s novel plays a key role in helping Audrey discover her family’s history. Why do you think the book was so important to both Isaac and Emilie that they brought it through war together?

4.   Emilie’s life as a VAD in the war is vastly different from her life at home. What do you think are some of the lessons she learns in France that help her to become the woman she is at the end of the novel?

5.   In France, Emilie gravitates toward Sister Allen, rather than her bunkmate or the other VADs closer to her age. Why do you think that friendship means so much to her?

6.   Leslie believes that Audrey’s skills as a nurse can be applied to a different path in life, if she should choose one. Where do you see this sentiment being proven in the story? Do you think Audrey could have reached her goal without these skills?

7.   When Audrey begins to explore Yorkshire, she feels a connection to the county that makes it feel like home. Have you ever felt this way about a place, whether it be a country, a house, or a city?

8.   Much of Isaac’s and Fletcher’s perspectives of war are only shown through their letters to Emilie. Today, preserved correspondence such as theirs as well as diaries and memoirs help us to better understand historical events. With diaries and letter writing falling out of relevance these days, do you think future historians will struggle to study our time? How might the internet and social media play a similar role?

9.   If, like Audrey, you could suddenly inherit a mysterious home from a relative, where would you hope for it to be located? What type of home would be most thrilling for you to discover? Where would you start to uncover its secrets?