These questions are designed to spark conversation; remember that there are no right or wrong answers!

1. What observations can you make about the passage of time in this book? What does the title refer to? How is the title reinforced by the organization of the book and its chapters?

2. Making pancakes on Sunday morning is one ritual Alice tries to recreate. What other rituals appear in this book? What is the purpose of a ritual; why does Alice think trying to recreate rituals will help her? How do others in the family respond to these rituals?

3. Describe Alice’s and Will’s relationship and how it changes through the course of the book. Why do you think this tragedy doesn’t draw them closer? Why do Will and Alice have such a difficult time talking to each other truthfully about what they’re feeling?

4. Why is Dotty King initially so appealing to Alice? How do Alice’s perceptions of her change after they meet?

5. Alice encounters a number of adult women after her mother’s death. How do they succeed and fail as role models?

6. Why doesn’t Alice tell her brother or her great-aunt about hearing her mother’s voice?

7. "A fact is a fact," Alice says. "Something true." (page 14) Do you think the truth must be factual? Is there a difference between truth and facts?

8. In what ways does Alice try to be like her mother? Does doing things her mother did help Alice understand Annette any better?

9. Why does Alice ask to memorize the periodic table of elements? Does she know something truly remarkable, as Mr. Miller tells her? (page 57) How does this incident compare to other instances when scientific principles are discussed?

10. Do you agree with Annette when she tells Alice, "Everyone lives their real life in secret?" (page 78)

11. Why does Annette keep insisting that she’s "right here" when, in fact, she’s dead? Are there ways people remain with us after they die?

12. What are the various secrets that are exposed throughout the book? What are the reasons people have for keeping these secrets? Are they justified? What happens in the book when these secrets are shared with others?

13. What does Paula mean when she says, "I hate how everything is exactly the same when nothing is"? (page 136)

14. Alice wonders, "Were you allowed to twist everything into a nicer story just because you wanted to?" (page 145) What do you think? What are the ways various characters throughout the book seek more pleasant versions of the truth? Is this approach helpful for them?

15. What does Alice mean when she says, "These meetings [with lawyers] were like the steam in the bathtub, the scratch of the match?" (page 146) Compare what Alice is looking for in those meetings versus what Aunt Aggy is looking for.

16. Annette says, "The simple truth is, not every choice gets the luxury of being exactly right or wrong." (page 171) Do you agree with that statement? What are some of the choices characters make in the book; are they exactly right or wrong?

17. Compare the reasons Annette wanted to play the role of Emily in Our Town with Alice’s reasons for wanting the part.

18. Alice thinks about her mother: "Who was she before she became Mama, my mother? Had I ever wondered about that?" (page 182) Do children completely understand their parents’ lives? What insight does Alice gain in trying to imagine various aspects of her mother’s life?

19. In what ways are Annette and Mrs. Johnson similar? Different?

20. Why do you think Annette returned to Shelby after she ran away? Why did Will return to Shelby; why did he leave in the first place? Compare their reasons for going and returning.

21. Paula longs for a miracle in her life; "What would be a miracle?" Alice wonders. (page 257) Do you think there are any miracles in this book, large or small?

22. What different "voices" echo throughout this book? Why do you think the author chose to present Annette primarily as a voice that only Alice hears? Do you believe such a thing could happen?

23. About holding her dead mother’s hand, Alice says, "…though I was touching her, I wasn’t; though she was there in front of me, she wasn’t. I had never seen so clearly how two opposing things could both be true." (page 278) What does Alice mean? What are some of the other instances throughout the book where two "opposing things" both seem to be true?

24. Do you think death is unfair? Or is it, as Mrs. Lane says, "the most fair thing there is because we all die?" (page 287)

25. How does Mrs. Elam’s response to the tragedy in her life compare to Annette’s response? To Alice’s response?

26. Do you think Alice will ever fully understand why her mother committed suicide?

27. What do you make of Annette’s last words to Alice: "But I’m your mother. You have to understand that there are things you’ll never know"? (page 336)

28. Why does Alice finally tell Mrs. Lane about hearing her mother’s voice? What do you think about Mrs. Lane’s response to Alice?