Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of gender discrimination.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How does this novel compare to other historical fiction novels of Hannah’s you have read—for instance, The Women, The Nightingale, or Winter Garden? If this is your first time reading Hannah, are you eager to read more?

2. What did you know about the Dust Bowl before reading this? Did this knowledge prime your reading and expectations in any way? How did your reading experience accord with these expectations?

3. Compare this novel to classic books about the Dust Bowl—for instance, John Steinbeck’s 1939’s The Grapes of Wrath or the much lesser known Whose Names Are Unknown by female author Senora Babb, on which Steinbeck’s novel drew heavily. As novels focusing on women, do Babb’s and Hannah’s novels resonate with one another or with you in a unique way?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Considering Elsa’s final fate and the information the Epilogue provides about Loreda, do you think this book has a happy ending? Why or why not? If you were to use a different word for the ending than “happy,” what would it be? How do you feel about novels that end ambiguously or even sadly?