Book Club Kit
Discussion Questions
5 Which scene between Callie and Joel was your favorite?
6 How do you feel about how Joel handled his past relationships, or lack thereof?
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1 The Sight of You is a journey about love, loyalty, and how to handle a heartbreaking decision. How do you feel the author portrayed these themes throughout the novel?
2 Callie’s and Joel’s attraction in the novel is “solar-plexus level,” as Joel puts it. Was there a time in your life when you felt like this? How do you feel about that person now?
3 In the wake of her best friend Grace’s death, Callie decides to keep Grace’s dream alive by working at the café. Do you think she made the right decision? What would you have done if you were in Callie’s shoes?
4 The Sight of You has a colorful cast of characters that all play an important role in Joel and Callie’s relationship. Which characters did you relate to the most, and why?
What is one piece of advice you would give to either Joel or Callie about love, heartbreak, or grief?
8 Would you choose the ability to see into the future, like Joel, if given the option? If so, how would you use it?
9 What do you think about how the novel ends?
10 Do you think fate played a part in Joel and Callie’s love story? Do you think it plays a part in yours?
11 Would you choose love, if you knew how it would end?
© M a rk Cros s f ie l d
A Conversation with Holly Miller What is your novel, The Sight of You, about? The Sight of You tells the story of Joel and Callie. Joel has prophetic dreams about what the future holds for the people he loves, the good and the bad—dreams that disturb him so much he has vowed never to fall in love again. And Callie, who is grieving her best friend, knows she must try to live a fuller life, but can’t seem to find a way to get there. Despite their private struggles, when the two meet, it feels meant to be—a love that could last a lifetime. But then Joel has the dream about Callie he has always dreaded, and the two face a heartbreaking decision that will alter the course of both their lives forever.
Tell us a little about Joel and Callie. What does each see in the other that makes them such a perfect couple? Callie is attracted straightaway to quiet, understated Joel’s huge heart. An ex-veterinarian, he is full of compassion, modest, and a little mysterious. And Joel can see how smart Callie is, how quick-witted and capable, how she can light up any room. He feels drawn to her in a way he never has to anyone before.
Typically, the main question in a love story is whether the two main characters fall in love. But you begin your book by revealing that Callie and Joel are no longer together. Why foreshadow their relationship in this way? When I started writing The Sight of You, Joel and Callie being perfect for each other felt like a given—and I wanted this to be the case for the reader, too. Because in many ways, for both characters, the real story begins after they fall in love, not before.
He knows the way to honor what they had is to live the very best life he can and face up to his fears, or the choice they made will have been for nothing.
The chapters alternate between Callie’s and Joel’s voices. Why did you choose to format the novel this way? On the face of it, The Sight of You would appear to be the story of Joel—his prophetic dreams and their effect on his life and
relationships. But it is equally Callie’s story— who she is at the start of the novel, and who she has become by the end. I wanted to give equal weight to both characters’ experiences, and alternating chapters felt like the most natural way to do this.
Callie’s passion for the natural world defines the arc of her life. Why isn’t she able to embark on her ecology career earlier, before meeting Joel? Callie is by nature risk-averse—a trait inherited from her parents—and has always lived a relatively safe life in the shadow of her more outgoing friends. Before meeting Joel, she felt as though living cautiously protected her from disappointment or failure, but Joel encourages her to see that taking risks can lead to beautiful things.
Joel feels responsible for others because of his dreams, yet this responsibility stands in the way of his relationships. How is he able to break free from the burden of his secret? Joel is so strongly drawn to Callie that he is able to persuade himself to tune out thoughts of what might happen if he dreams the worst about her, putting the weight of responsibility to the back of his mind. But later, having been inspired by her courage and fortified by her love for him, he knows the way to honor what they had is to live the very best life he can and face up to his fears, or the choice they made will have been for nothing.
When two people choose to become partners for life, they assume the burden of, perhaps, being the one to watch the other die. How is it that most of us are able to move through that knowledge and build lives unencumbered by that fear? Most of us are fortunate enough not to know when our loved ones will die, so we can live freely and boldly without a ticking clock in the background and the perpetual, daily fear of knowing what will come. I think this explains why so many people I have spoken to would choose not to know how long they had left. . . .
If given the opportunity, would you want to know exactly how long you have left? I would absolutely not want to know! Though I can fully appreciate the benefits of knowing— being able to plan, say my goodbyes, and achieve everything I wanted to—for me, every experience would be colored by the knowledge of when the end was coming. (And if it was imminent, I know that information would paralyze me rather than liberate me!)
If you could do one thing before you die, what would it be? I’m lucky enough to have met the love of my life and achieved my lifelong dream of becoming an author. So my bucket list is all about travel. I’d love to visit Russia, South Africa, Iceland, Finland, Prague. . . . The list is endless and probably far from achievable, sadly! Still, it’s good to dream. . . .
Debating a decision? Wondering what fate has in store?
Add in your potential paths and see what our fortune-teller has to say.
Print the following page
With the design side
Flip the folded paper,
in color and cut
facing down, fold all four
and fold all four corners
Insert your fingers into the orange flaps to create
out the square design.
corners up into the center.
into the center again.
the fortune-teller shape.
How to Play Fill the blanks with your potential destinies. Pick a number, then open and close the fortune-teller that many times. Pick a color, then open and close the fortune-teller according to the spelling of the color (G-R-E-E-N would be 5, P-I-N-K would be 4, etc.). Pick a final color and open the flap to reveal your fate.
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4 TRIM OFF THIS AREA