1. How does the anonymity provided by a mostly empty seaside town contribute to the story?
2. How does the time period inform the characters’ interactions and decisions throughout the book?
3. Henry is only twenty years old, and Effie just eighteen. Do their ages change how you feel about them? Why or why not?
4. What role do wealth and status play in the characters’ perspectives on life and on one another?
5. Discuss how you feel about Alma.
6. Marriage involves both give and take. What does Henry give? Take? How about Effie? What can this tell us about their relationship from beginning to end?
7. Is it possible to define a “breaking point” for a marriage? What factors have to be considered? Do you think it is possible to truly forgive?
8. Do you think Henry and Effie are sympathetic characters?
9. Would Henry and Effie’s marriage have been different if they hadn’t gone to Cape May for their honeymoon?
10. Discuss how you feel about the final chapter.
11. How would you feel if an event that took place on your honeymoon defined the course of your entire marriage?

Founded in 2017, Celadon Books, a division of Macmillan Publishers, publishes a highly curated list of twenty to twenty-five new titles a year. The list of both fiction and nonfiction is eclectic and focuses on publishing commercial and literary books and discovering and nurturing talent.

About the Author

CHIP CHEEK’s stories have appeared in The Southern Review, Harvard Review, Washington Square Review, and other journals and anthologies. He has been awarded scholarships to the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, the Tin House Summer Writer’s Workshop, and the Vermont Studio Center, as well as an Emerging Artist Award from the St. Botolph Club Foundation. He lives in El Segundo, California, with his wife and baby daughter. You can sign up for ebook updates here.

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