1. As twin sisters, Gus and Julia share a close bond, and each brings different but complementary strengths to their adventuring. What strengths do you think Gus brings? What does Julia bring?
2. Beau Brummell held an extraordinary amount of social power in the Regency era. He could ruin a person’s social standing with a quizzical lift of his eyebrow or bring them into vogue by talking to them for fifteen minutes. In your opinion, what forms of social power exist today?
3. It is fantasy cast time! If you were casting the film of The Ladies Road Guide to Utter Ruin, who would you choose to play Gus, Julia, Lord Evan, and Mr. Kent? Beau Brummell? Hester and Elizabeth? Mulholland?
4. What are some of the rights that women have now that Gus and Julia do not have in the Regency era?
5. Who is more annoying, Duffy or Mrs. Ellis-Brant (the Ermine)?
6. Beau Brummell tells Gus that they are “cut from the same cloth.” What do you think he means by this?
7. Regency-era clubs and societies often had very odd and convoluted names: for example, the Beefeaters Club and the Most Ancient and Most Puissant Order of the Beggar’s Benison and Merryland. For a bit of fun, what would be your book club’s Regency name?
8. Why do you think spies and the act of spying were considered sordid and disreputable in the Regency era? How are they considered now?
9. Do you agree with Gus that the Luddites may have had a case for destroying looms and other textile machinery as a way of protest?
10. Considering both the physical and social dangers of the mission proposed by Mr. Whitmore, do you think Gus and Julia should have agreed to go? What do you think about the condition that Gus placed on Mr. Whitmore’s request for her participation?

About the Author

Author Photo by Tania Jovanovic

Alison Goodman is a Melbourne-based author of historical and fantasy fiction. Her other novels include the Dark Days Club trilogy, an award-winning mix of Regency adventure and dark fantasy, and Eon and Eona, a New York Times bestselling fantasy duology published in twenty countries. Alison has recently completed her PhD in creative arts, focusing on historical research and the Regency era, and can dance a mean English contra dance. She is fueled by coffee and roast potatoes and will travel a long way for a good scone.

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