Reader’s Guide to Bittersweet Manor

• Do societal rules change over time in Bittersweet Manor? And if they change, how so?

• How does the role of women in society change, if at all?

• Could you relate to any of the issues facing Emma/Gussie, for instance, the conflict between personal needs and familial responsibility?

• How does their privilege influence Emma and Gussie's lives? How are those effects similar? Different?

• Is Emma afflicted by "affluenza"? Discuss how that modern "sickness" plays out in your own life, either by sympathy or outrage. How affected are we by our upbringings? How does individual choice play into it?

• Switch the roles: Had Emma been impoverished, what would her life choices have been? Gussie's?

• How do the themes of food and money play out in the book? How are they — if they are — related?

Please send in your own comments and questions to tory@torymccagg.com.