BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS: The Dressmaker's Gift

MAY 2021

Welcome to our book club questions for The Dressmaker’s Gift by Fiona Valpy

 

1. What are your thoughts about Simone’s grandma being Mireille? Too much of a coincidence?

 

2. ‘Paris had become an oasis of luxurious escapism in war-torn Europe.’ How surprised were you to read this?

 

3. What did you think about the French girls dating the German soldiers?

 

4. Did you expect Ernst to be married? Did you feel sympathetic towards Claire when she found out?

 

5. Would you have walked away like Claire did or confronted Ernst in the Louvre?

 

6. Was Vivienne brave or selfish in using the flat as a wireless receiver? Should she have put Claire and Mireille’s lives in danger?

 

7. Did you believe it was Ernst who informed on the three girls?

 

8. Did you think Vivienne would make it make out of Auschwitz alive?

 

9. Did you think Harriet’s treatment of Thierry was acceptable? Was she rash in ending the relationship?

 

10. Brave or naive? What did you think of the girl’s involvement with the network? Would you have risked your life to do the same?

 

11. ‘The currents of trauma run deep in families. They can be inherited, passed down the generations, from one to the next, ruining lives as they go.’ Do you agree or disagree?

 

12. What did you think of the ending and how it all came back full circle?