Happy Bookers Discussion Group

Next meeting: Wednesday, June 26
at 7:00 p.m.

The Right-Hand Shore

by Christopher Tilghman

While visiting the dying owner of the family's estate in order to secure his inheritance, Edward hears stories about his family and land, from an ancestor's 1857 sale of soon-to-be emancipated slaves to a doomed effort to cultivate a peach orchard. "A rare achievement. Christopher Tilghman’s vision of the American past—and particularly of individuals caught in the tidal sweep of history—is dazzling in its precision and clarity.” —Charles Frazier, winner of the National Book Award for Cold Mountain

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Discussion Questions
 

What were your first impressions of Mary? How did your perception of her shift as you watched her life unfold?

How does Ophelia’s life with Wyatt compare to Mary’s life as a single woman? How do both women contend with the preference for sons as heirs?

What does Randall and Thomas’s friendship teach their families about race, and about the limits of devotion? How do Una and Abel try to prepare their children for the world beyond the Retreat?

What do Mary’s years in France represent to her? What does Ophelia want her to grasp about the importance of ancestry and the ties between Europe and America?

What role does Catholicism play in the lives of the Masons, socially and spiritually?

How does Maryland’s history as a Civil War border state echo throughout the character's lives? How are the Masons affected by living in a state that did not join the Confederacy?

Excerpted from official reading guide

Author website

Upcoming Selections:

Selections for second half of 2013 to be announced soon.

Happy Bookers selections are chosen by the participants.  Suggest a book for discussion
 

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