Here's to Us (Hilderbrand)

Discussion Questions
We'll add specific questions if they're made available by the author. In the meantime, use these LitLovers talking points to help kick off a discussion for Here's to Us...then take off on your own:

1. This story is told through shifting points of view, one chapter at a time, a rather different structure than usual for Elin Hilderbrand. Did the structure work for you...were you able to engage with the characters as much as you wanted? Were you able to keep up with all the different characters—or was it hard, at first, to keep them straight?

2. How would you describe Deacon Thorpe, the deceased husband? Talk about his abandonment by his parents and how it shaped his life. Does that single event explain his actions or, perhaps, even exonerate him despite the fact that he hurt numerous people all through his life? In other words, are you able to feel sympathy for him?

3. What kind of a parent was Deacon Thorpe? Talk about the connections (or lack thereof) he had with this children, especially with Angie.

4. Talk about the wives and how they differ from one another.  Who of the three—Belinda, Laurel, or Scarlett—was most suitable for Deacon? They come together resenting, maybe despising, one another, but how do their attitudes and relationships toward one another change by the end of the novel? How did your attitude toward them change?

5. Same with the three children. Talk about their emotional baggage, their relationships with their parents and with one another.

6. How does this book treat addiction: does it suggest it is a a failure of character or an inherited trait? What do you think? Did the revelations in the book alter your views?

7. Was the ending satisfying...or did you wish for more?

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

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