What the Trees Remember 
Book Club Questions

1. Do you think fear of imminent death the night of the storm had an impact on Alma when she was in her nineties? What might that impact have been?
2. How was Alma a rebel for her time? Can you cite some examples?
3. Do you know anyone who has dealt with their grief in the way Tom did, removing all signs of Ella and never talking about her? How did that affect Dora as a girl?
4. Do you think Alma made the right choice in not telling Dora as a young woman what she’d discovered about Dora’s mother’s history?
5. Were you sympathetic towards Ella for making the choice to pass for white and cutting herself off from her family? Do you think Tom knew?
6. What did you think about Watcher’s connection to nature? Could we benefit from some of his sensitivity today? In what ways?
7. Were you surprised by the stand the minister took in his sermon during Benny’s funeral?
8. What did you think of Dora’s choice not to return to teaching in Lovingston the fall after Benny’s lynching? Do you think her father, if he were living, would have been disappointed in her?
9. How was the concept of law and justice different in the late 19th century different from today?
10. Do you think Watcher, Joe Johns, and Randolph did the right thing in murdering Grundy?
11. Do you think Watcher made the best decision outside the jail when his brothers were charged for a murder they didn’t commit? He chose the Old Testament eye for an eye approach rather than the New Testament’s advice to turn the other cheek and forgive. Why did he believe his choice was the right one?
12. What caused Dora at the end of the novel to open her heart? Do you see any connection between her reaction to the orphaned boys and perhaps memories of her teaching days? Do you think destruction of her physical environment as well as the revelation in Alma’s diary might have had an impact on that heart opening?

Abigail Cutter will do Zoom interviews with your book club. Contact her to schedule an interview.