Glass of Time (Cox)

Discussion Questions
Use our LitLovers Book Club Resources; they can help with discussions for any book:

• How to Discuss a Book (helpful discussion tips)
• Generic Discussion Questions—Fiction and Nonfiction
• Read-Think-Talk (a guided reading chart)

Also consider these LitLovers talking points to help get a discussion started for The Meaning of Night:

1. On his website, Michael Cox says that The Glass of Time is concerned with the nature of identity. How does Esperanza discover her own identity and its connection with Lady Tansor? Did you figure it out before she does? Actually, though, what is even meant by "the nature" of identity? Is identity provisional, i.e., temporary, open to change? Is it fluid, changing with circumstances or knowledge? Is it definitive—we are who we are?

2. What is "The Great Task" which Esperanza is sent to Evenwood to complete? Talk about her divided loyalties, her moral dilemma at the heart of the story.

3. Another theme Cox says he explores in the novel is the "enduring power of the past." How does that theme play out in The Glass of Time? In other words, how does the past continually interrupt and affect the present? Notice, too, how the narrative jumps between time periods. Did that enhance the story for you...or did you find it distracting? And, of course, talk about the significance of the book's title.

4. The novel also explores, as Cox puts it, "the corrosive effects of concealing guilty secrets." What does he mean by that statement as it relates to The Glass of Time?

5. The novel's characters are rich and memorable. Which ones did you sympathize with, dislike, distrust, find fascinating?

(Questions by LitLovers. Please feel free to use them, online or off, with attribution. Thanks.)

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