READERS GUIDE

Discussion Questions for Eliza Sunshine:

Michelle Good’s Eliza Sunshine is a poignant and powerful novel about three generations of Cree women, the storytelling tradition they pass down, and their disparate feelings about identity, family, memory, hope, and the meaning of home. The questions that follow are designed to enrich your book club’s discussion of Eliza Sunshine. We hope they spark your curiosity, provoke thoughtful conversation, and enhance your appreciation for Michelle Good’s heartfelt and ultimately hopeful family saga.

1. Swan comes of age during a cataclysmic moment when her community first begins to interact with white settlers and must come to grips with their cruel and careless murder of the buffalo. How do you think Swan found the strength to carry on after her and her family’s way of life was destroyed in front of her very eyes? What lessons about life before colonial contact does Swan pass down to her granddaughter?
 
2. The night after Swan gets her first period, she receives a vision from the white swan Wâpisiw, who warns her about the decimation of the buffalo. What do you think is the significance of this vision occurring right when Swan is moving from girlhood into womanhood?

3. Swan, Eliza, and Ella all have different ideas of what it means to be Indigenous. How do their self-conceptions differ? And how do you think each of their identities have been impacted by the unique historical eras they lived through?

4. For Eliza and Eleanor, New Zealand offers them access to education and opportunities that are inaccessible to them in Canada. What does Eliza observe about New Zealand’s treatment of the Māori women in her program? How does it differ from her own experiences as a Cree woman living in Canada?
 
5. How do you think Eliza’s life would have been different if she married Allen Hamilton instead of Billy? If you were in Eliza’s position, would you have accepted Allen’s proposal and stayed in New Zealand? 

6. In Ella’s eyes, Eliza “dedicated [her life] to escaping the consequences of being Cree.” In contrast, Ella tries to live her life differently by volunteering at the Indian Friendship Centre and devoting her life to activism. Why do you think Ella’s actions feel dangerous to Eliza?
 
7. How would you describe Ella and Juniper’s relationship to justice and the justice system, especially in the aftermath of Eleanor’s brutal assault and murder?
 
8. Why do you think Michelle Good chose to call the novel Eliza Sunshine?