Last Goodbye (Finnerty)

Discussion Questions
1. Eva is faced with a deeply difficult dilemma. Do you think that Eva’s decision was selfless? Do you think she considered the needs of her three older children adequately?

2. Do you believe that the tendency to put a child’s needs before our own, is a trait unique to mothers?

3. Kate still carries a lot of anger towards her mother but do you think Kate is more similar to her mother than she would like to admit? What characteristics do they share?

4. What are your feelings about Nat’s relationship with Will?

5. Do you agree with Kate’s assertion that there are lots of "ones" out there for us or would you agree with Nat’s more romantic view that you can love a lot of people but that there is an ultimate one out there for all of us?

6. Do you think Will made the right decision to choose his marriage and his family’s well being over a future with Nat?

7. Ben has a difficult and problematic relationship with his father. How damaging do you think the weight of a parent’s expectations can be on a child?

8. What did you think of Aoife’s relationship with her grandmother Josephine?

9. What did you think of Noel’s relationship with Aoife? Do you think that he should have raised her with her brothers or was he right to let her stay with Josephine as happens in the story?

10. What were your feelings towards Kate at the start of the novel? Did they change towards the end?
(Questions courtesy of the author.)

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