READERS GUIDE

Reader’s Guide
The Fortune Tellers of Rue Daru by Olesya Salnikova Gilmore
Disucssion Questions:


1.   Throughout the story, how does Zina grow in her power as a fortune teller and a woman? Do you agree with the choices she makes to get there?

2.   How does the relationship between Zina and her grandmother evolve? Which of them is your favorite?

3.   How does the author use the setting of the tearoom and the greater Paris area to create atmosphere? How does the setting heighten the
gothic and historical elements?

4.   How does the past, specifically the Lenormands’ generational trauma and choices, influence the story and Valya’s and Zina’s paths?

5.   How are fortune-telling and spiritualism in the novel the same as and different from what you’ve heard? What is the author’s twist on them? Is their existence, and the general belief in the supernatural, accepted by the characters?

6.   How do Valya’s and Zina’s struggles as émigrés in 1920s Paris reflect the difficulties faced by the émigré community at large both in the
book and in history?

7.   Did you feel empathy for Olga, Alec, and their father, the Grand Duke? Why or why not?

8.   Are Zina and Gabriel enemies to lovers? What growing do they have to do to get past their conflicting motivations?

9.   What was your favorite scene in the novel?

10. Is the end a happily ever after?