Violet Clay: A Novel [Paperback]

US

1. Violet comes to comprehend her uncle Ambrose’s failed ambitions just as her own life seems to hit a dead end. What were your dreams for your life? Have they been fulfilled, abandoned, or diverted? What was the key episode that marked the transition? Does your story parallel Violet’s in any way?

2. The essence of “gothic,” Milo says, at the end of chapter 14, has to do with family secrets that we tend to forget, “except when they manifest themselves in some form of brooding terror.” How well have you known the brooding secrets of intimate partners? How dangerous are they?

3. Look at the romantic relationships inViolet Clay. Who finds their right mate? What are the most positive things that a character does for his or her development? Are bad relationships harmful traps or steps in an evolution of personality? How do you get out of a bad relationship?

4. If an epigraph at the beginning of a novel is a writer’s secret message to a reader (“here’s what you should be aware of, here’s what lies behind my tale”), how does the quote fromThe Magic Flutesuggest you approach Violet’s story?

5. Godwin is known for weaving references to other books, music, and food into her novels. A reviewer once wrote: "After reading a Godwin novel, you find yourself going to the library to check out the book one of her characters has been reading, you ask the record store for her music, you cook her food" (Beverly Lowry, onA Southern Family, The New York Times Book Review,October 11, 1987). Can you cite examples of this? Did you find them effective and helpful to you as a reader?

6. Godwin develops her story along several lines, including through the metaphor of color. How does she play on the color violet? What does the color violet mean to you, and how does that compare with others’ subjective impressions of it?

7. Godwin is considered by slă5