1) Lucy and her mother each have a magical gift that is an amplification of an actual phenomenon. In real life, there is a scientific connection between scent and memory; odors travel more directly than other types of sensory information to the parts of our brain that generate emotions and store memories. In The Memory Gardener, the author plays with this idea by giving Lucy the magical ability to grow flowers whose scents allow people to literally relive moments from their past. Similarly, the author plays with the idea that art inspires a wide range of emotions, giving Lucy’s mother the magical ability to create paintings that make viewers feel an emotion so deeply that they are, in a sense, spellbound. You might say that scents that trigger memories and art that evokes emotions are examples of “everyday magic.” Can you think of other types of everyday magic? For example, would you consider being transported by a good story a type of everyday magic? Or the way that being by the sea inspires a sense of calm?

2) Those who breathe in the fragrance of Lucy’s flowers don’t get to choose the memory to which they return, but if you could—if you could relive anything from your past—what would that moment be and why?

3) Louis remembers that he once loved to take photographs, and Cynthia taps into the community leader that she had been in her youth. Is there anything that you might like to reclaim from your past self? Can you recall a character trait, an old hobby, or a goal that has faded over time…something that you might like to reawaken?

4) In Chapter Twenty-Three, Adam explains that the French writer Marcel Proust​ wrote that “the taste and scent of a certain cookie—a madeleine—dipped​ into tea, brought him right back in time to visiting his grandmother as a child. She’d served him madeleines, and when he smelled them again, he was swept back through his life, back to his childhood, for a moment.” Is there a certain scent that is tied to a specific time, place, or person for you?

5) In Chapter Fourteen, Vikram says that he always found it “absolutely maddening that the moments in time that stick with me, haunting me, are the bad ones, the traumatic ones, the ones where I behaved poorly…or someone else did.” Do you agree that bad memories seem to cling longer, remaining more vivid in your mind than good memories? If so, why do you think that is?

6) In Chapter One, Lucy reflects on the moment when she realized that gardens make her “heart sing in mysterious ways.” Is there a place that makes your heart sing in mysterious ways? The woods? A bakery? A bookstore? Why do you think that is? What memories and emotions do these places stir for you?

7) In Chapter Six, Lucy reflects that “Every garden paints a portrait of the person who designed it.” Do you agree? If you have a garden, how do you think your garden reflects or represents you?

8) In Chapter Six, Lucy also explains that she believes that “caring for plants is symbiotic; as you tend to them, helping them thrive, they soothe the broken parts within you, too.” Do you agree? Do you believe that the act of caring for someone or something can be mutually beneficial?

9) There are five gardens in the novel: the sunken garden, the woodland garden, the rose garden, the cottage garden, and the California garden. Which of these gardens would you most like to visit and why?

10) Lucy’s favorite flower is the rose. Do you have a favorite flower? What are some adjectives that you would use to describe its appearance and scent? Do you have any specific memories or associations that are tied to your favorite flower?

11) In her acknowledgments, the author writes that she was inspired to write this novel in part by the research and writings of Dr. Oliver Sacks, a neurologist who asserted that gardens have “restorative and healing powers” for elderly patients and patients with neurological diseases. What are some mental and physical aspects of gardening that you think could be beneficial to someone as they age?

12) In Chapter Twenty-Nine, Lucy’s father says that her mother believed her real magic lay not in her gift itself, but in the way that she could use her gift to help others. If you could have any magical power that you could use to help others, what would it be?