Reading Group Guide

1. Leila’s friend Annie says about the search for love, “The longer you hold on to these notions of perfection, the more disappointed you’re going to feel when you don’t find it.” In what ways do you think Annie might be wrong? Are there ways in which she might be right?
2. Leila’s parents clearly just want her to be happy. Are there ways that their hopes for their daughter’s happiness are reasonable? Are there times when they cross the line, and do they even realize it when they do?
3. When Leila agreed to the three-month deadline, did you believe her parents would really hold her to it? Why or why not?
4. Would you ever try speed dating? If you have tried speed dating, what was your experience like?
5. Were you surprised that Meena agreed to get married after knowing her fiancé for such a short time?
6. Leila’s parents are undeniably happy together. Are there times that “love after marriage” might actually work? How do you think they made it work out?
7. Leila says, “Hero or no hero, I was still the heroine of my story, and truth be told, my story was just beginning.” In what ways did you think Leila would get to this point? Did you ever think that she was waiting until she was engaged to start her own life? In what ways did she seem more independent than that?
8. Describe Leila’s relationship with her mother. Do you think they have a close relationship? Are they always as honest with each other as they should be? Do you feel that their relationship is stronger or weaker than most mother/daughter relationships? Why or why not?
9. Family and cultural tradition play a strong role in this novel. In what ways do you feel the generational differences between Leila and her parents influence the rishta process? Do you think Leila is genuinely open to the process, or is she agreeing just to please her mother and father?
10. Describe the most embarrassing date you have ever been on.

Extra credit for the book club: Watch a Bollywood movie and enjoy! You can even pick one of Zara’s favorite Bollywood romances from the nineties and early 2000s:

• Dil To Pagal Hai
• Hum Aapke Hain Koun . . . !
• Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge
• Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam
• Kuch Kuch Hota Hai
• Mohabbatein
• Pardes
• Dhadkan
• Kaho Naa Pyaar Hai
• Devdas

Copyright

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Grateful acknowledgment is made for permission to reprint an excerpt of “Venus” from Wild Embers, copyright © 2017, by Nikita Gill.

P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.

THE MARRIAGE CLOCK. Copyright © 2019 by Zara Raheem. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.