10. What is the significance of the scene in which László makes the final handoff of the mysterious package in the garden of old communist statues? Why does Miller place it in this setting? How does the completion of his mission help László to reconcile with his past?

11. Much of Oxygen is concerned with memory; the characters struggle to overcome the memories of past mistakes and failures, or to recapture the happiness or optimism of times past. What does each character need from the past, and how does each try to get it (e.g. Alice returning to her childhood home, László undertaking the secret mission, etc.)?

12. What do you think is the root of Ella’s compulsive theft? Is it related to her relationship with her parents? What function does she serve in the novel? Why does she return the poison pill to Alec, and why does she do it using the magic cups?

13. Miller leaves a great deal of his characters’ pasts unexplained; often he hints at past conflicts or events—for example, the details of Alec’s nervous breakdown—without fully explaining them. Why and how do you think Miller chooses to leave these important gaps for the reader to fill in? Does it make the novel more or less powerful?

About the Author

ANDREW MILLER’s first novel, Ingenious Pain, won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the International IMPAC Award. He was short-listed for the Booker Prize and the Whitbread Award for his novel Oxygen. He lives in Brighton, England.