The Irishman’s Daughter/V.S. Alexander A READING GROUP GUIDE for THE IRISHMAN’S DAUGHTER by V. S. Alexander
The suggested questions are included to enhance your group’s reading of V.S. Alexander’s The Irishman’s Daughter!
1. The book starts in County Mayo, Ireland, in September 1845, as the famine reaches northwest Ireland. The Irish farmers had no idea what was going on. What would your reaction have been to the failed crop? 2. The average adult ate ten to fourteen pounds of potatoes a day before the famine. Could you have lived on that diet, and, if so, what meals would you have prepared? 3. Briana and Lucinda have different views of the world. Which one appeals to you most? 4. Rory and Briana were what we might call “childhood sweethearts.” Do you believe that such relationships exist and that they can last? 5. Life before the famine would have offered a rural Irish family limited forms of entertainment— fairs, gossip, fights, horse racing, and books, for those who could read. How would you have filled your time in such a setting? 6. The English government during the famine adopted a laissez-faire (hands off) economic policy toward the Irish. How do you think the political climate affected the outcome of the famine? 7. It’s been said that Irish families, both abroad and at home, said little about the famine after it diminished in 1852. Why do you think the people were so silent? 8. Who do you think killed the Kilbanes? 9. In America, Lucinda meets Dr. Scott. What do you think happens to her and the doctor? 10. Briana takes her daughter back to Ireland. Do you think that was a wise decision considering the famine was still raging?
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The Irishman’s Daughter/V.S. Alexander
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