“A brilliantly written, moving story” (The Washington Book Review) about the converging lives of a young boy who witnesses a murder, the ER doctor who tends to him, and a woman guarding her long-buried past, from the author of What Could Be Saved.

It seems like just another night shift for Lucy, an overworked ER physician in Providence, Rhode Island, until six-year-old Ben is brought in as the sole survivor from a crime scene. He’s traumatized and wordless; everything he knows has been taken from him in an afternoon. It’s not clear what he saw or what he remembers.

Lucy, who’s grappling with the demise of her marriage, feels a profound connection to the little boy. She wants to help him…but will recovering his memory heal him or damage him further?

Across town, Clare will soon be turning one hundred years old. She has long believed that the secrets she’s been keeping don’t matter to anyone anymore, but a surprising encounter makes her realize that the time has come to tell her story.

As Ben, Lucy, and Clare struggle to confront the events that shattered their lives, something stronger than fate is working to bring them together.

The Possible World spans nearly a century—from the Great Depression through the Vietnam War era and into the present—and “in beautifully crafted prose” (Booklist) captures the complicated ways our pasts shape our identities, and how timeless bonds can triumph over grief. “A bittersweet story full of imagination and nostalgia, loss and redemption…The Possible World will seize readers from the first scene and hold tight until its satisfying conclusion” (Kirkus Reviews).

This reading group guide for The Possible World includes discussion questions and ideas for enhancing your book club. The suggested questions are intended to help your reading group find new and interesting angles and topics for your discussion. We hope that these ideas will enrich your conversation and increase your enjoyment of the book.

Topics & Questions for Discussion

1. The Possible World traces the converging lives of Lucy, Ben, and Clare. Though they are from different walks of life and belong to different generations, what do they have in common? Of the three, whom did you relate to the most?

2. The friendship between Clare and Gloria, Oak Haven’s newest resident, takes some time to blossom. According to Gloria, what she and Clare have in common is a love of reading and possession of most of their marbles. But what other qualities or motives draw the two women together?

3. Why did Clare choose to name herself after St. Clare of Assisi, “the saint who had lived in poverty with God” (p. 185)? Do you agree with Prior Washburn that it is a fitting name, given her circumstances at the time? Does it continue to be a good fit later in her life?

4. Lucy’s life revolves around her job as an emergency room physician. Why do you think she’s so tied to a career that can “swing from a beautiful satisfaction . . . . to a dismal failure” all in one day? How does the aphorism she repeats, that no matter how much you love medicine, it will not love you back, inform her attitude toward work? Do you think the concept applies to other jobs and careers?

5. What draws Clare to Leo after the apple incident and his next visit to Roscommon? Do you think she feels a particular kinship with him or is her sudden longing for him to return a sign of her loneliness?

6. The novel opens with a brutal homicide and yet the search for the murderer is not the focus of the story. Did that surprise you?

7. What do you make of Lucy’s concerted attempts to be “nicer” to Joe? Do you have relationships that require this level of self-regulation? Why do you think Joe “couldn’t do this anymore” despite Lucy’s efforts?

8. What do you imagine Ben is asking Lucy in the final pages of the novel when she answers “so much”? Do you foresee a happy future for them?

9. Revisit the novel’s prologue. Now that you know what becomes of Ben, Lucy, and Clare, can you tell from whose perspective the prologue is written?

10. Do you think Ben is suffering from dissociative identity disorder, as one doctor diagnosed, or has Leo been reincarnated as Ben? Are there other possibilities? What do you think Liese O’Halloran Schwarz wants her readers to think?

11. On page 145, Clare muses, “We leave shadows of ourselves in the places where we change. . . . They won’t die until I do. Or maybe they never will. Maybe the places they inhabit are their own, in a timeless void sealed away from me and from each other, where they go on forever.” Do you think Clare’s shadows die when she does? What other shadow-selves inhabit the pages of the novel?

Enhance Your Book Club

1. Many families have been touched in some way by adoption and foster care. Is adoption or foster care in your family history? If so, how did that affect your reading of Leo and Ben’s journey and of their influence on the lives of Clare and Lucy?

2. The hurricane of 1938 changed Clare’s life and also the history of New England forever. Research the hurricane’s effects on Providence and share your findings with the group.

• Publisher: Scribner (September 17, 2019)
• Length: 368 pages
• ISBN13: 9781501166150

Browse Related Books

• Fiction > Family Life
• Fiction > Literary
• Fiction > Women

• Our Mother’s Day Gift Guide: 12 Books Perfect for Mom
  - Off the Shelf
• 11 Books About Death That Are Bursting with Life
  - Off the Shelf
• The 10 Most Popular Books We Escaped Into This November
  - Off the Shelf
• November eBook Deals: 10 Must-Reads to Add to Your Digital TBR Stack
  - Off the Shelf
• 9 Books with Floral Covers That Will Brighten Your Mood — and Your Bookshelf
  - Off the Shelf
• 7 Books With Striking Green Covers to Read This St. Paddy’s Day
  - Off the Shelf