BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS: Mrs England

JANUARY 2023

 

Welcome to our book club questions for Mrs England by Stacey Halls

 

  1. ‘I don’t believe in ghosts,’ said Ruby. Do you?
  2. Are you from London?’ ‘Birmingham, sir.’ ‘The Black Country. They should call this the Grey Country, what with all the chimney smoke. What colour would you give to where you live and why?
  3. How did you feel about Saul getting an education while the girls were denied one?
  4. The book is set in Yorkshire in the Edwardian era. If you could spend a week living in a different time in history, which period would you choose?
  5. ‘That would suggest that convicts breed convicts.’ Do you agree with this statement?
  6. How did your view of Mrs England change over the course of the story?
  7. ‘Had she taken her? Doing so would guarantee a search. According to the law, children belonged to fathers, not mothers.’ Did this surprise you? A woman can carry a child for nine months and then give birth, but the law then gives ownership to the father.
  8. To what extent do you think Ruby projected her own trauma onto the England family?
  9. Who was your favourite character?
  10. Were you surprised by the direction this story took and how it ended?

 

Photo: Lewis Ashton

read the next blog article >>