- Which of the characters do you most easily identify with and why?
- Is it ever right to resort to a physical or violent stand when an injustice has occurred?
- With a growing trend to refuse immunisation, why are we so reluctant to learn the lessons from the past with regards to epidemics in disease?
- Whilst the population of Ireland starved, Irish wheat was being sold to foreign markets. Are there modern parallels and what more can be done to stop those situations?
- Seamus’s refusal to come to terms with the loss suffered by his family, led to drinking and disaffection. How is society leaving people to suffer in equivalent situations today?
- Seamus turns to his ability to have children as a way to prove his manhood. How important is that self-view to his mental health? How else might the need to prove his value be satisfied?
- Michael and Eliza feel very differently about leaving Ellen’s grave behind. For Michael he carries Ellen in his heart. For Eliza the reality of the grave is important. How often do we cling to something physical and let it hold us back from seeking new opportunities?
- Family was incredibly important in times of crisis. How much have we lost by the increasing tendency of families to live some distance apart?
- How have the themes of the book affected your own view of the world around you?
- If you could ask me, the author, one question about the book, what would it be?