Discussion Questions for The Change
- Clara and Annie are best friends, but they are very different. For instance, Annie is more progressive and willing to take risks; whereas, Clara is more traditional and timid. Are you a Clara or an Annie? Do you take risks easily, or do you avoid them? As you get older, do you take more risks, or fewer risks?
- Clara, Annie, Sullie, and Maxwell fight for the release of the Bergen women who are unjustly incarcerated. Each of them has a strong conviction to make unjust things right. Do you have that same conviction? Have you ever spoken up when others would not? What was the result?
- The title The Change is appropriate for the story on many levels. In what ways do you relate the title to the different aspects of the story?
- The secondary characters in The Change are terrific. What do you think of Sullie as a character? What about him as a lawyer? Would you want him representing you on a tough case? Why, or why not? Ask yourself the same questions about Maxwell. What if Annie were a lawyer? Ask yourself the same questions about her.
- What about Valsted's and Littman's attorneys? Did they do an adequate job defending their clients? If you were their lawyer, what would you have done differently, if anything?
- In the first draft of The Change, Joshua Miller did not play much of a role. One of Deanne's editors convinced her that Joshua needed to be more involved in the storyline, and so he is. Does Joshua's role in the story deepen the plot? If so, in what way(s)? How would the story be different without him in it? How did Joshua's suicide make you feel?
- Do you think judicial misconduct is widespread now days? What do you think would help to eliminate it? Do we need to have better ways to discover judicial misconduct, and if so, what would that entail?
- Do you think Valsted, Littman, and Belzer were given punishments fitting their crimes? Discuss.
- How do you feel about Bob and Clara's sons - Robby, Luke, and Pete? Keeping in mind the story takes place in 1920, do you think their reactions to what Clara did - and ultimately to their father's murder - were justified, or not? Discuss.
- Some readers might argue that Sullie and Clara's relationship becomes romantic too quickly. Would you agree with them? Why or why not?
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