Book Club Questions
Widow Lady
Korean-war widow Katherine Caine finds herself playing amateur detective in Philadelphia in 1960. John F. Kennedy is running for president, the Cold War is raging and the Twist is sweeping the country. The cultural changes that we think of as the 1960s are still in the future and as a single, thirty-year-old woman, Katherine feels like a fish-out-of-water.
What role does time and place play in Widow Lady?
1.
What does your experience of the characters tell you about America in 1960? How do the characters reflect the social conventions of the times?
What does your experience of the characters tell you about America in 1960? How do the characters reflect the social conventions of the times?2.Would events surrounding the crime have unfolded differently if the story took place in the current time period?
Would events surrounding the crime have unfolded differently if the story took place in the current time period? 3.Do you think any of the characters would have lived differently if they were born fifty years later?
Do you think any of the characters would have lived differently if they were born fifty years later? 4.The main character's lifestyle includes a lot of details about the times. Can you spot them?
The main character's lifestyle includes a lot of details about the times. Can you spot them?5. The 1950s did not come to a sudden halt in 1960, but there was a hint of a change yet to come. How do you see these changes reflected, or not reflected, in the behavior of the characters?
