Here are a few questions about Sheepish to get the conversation rolling! (And don’t forget about the recipes in the back of the novel for your dinner menu.) If you’d like me to drop in via Zoom to your book club meeting for a few minutes, please let me know–I’m happy to if I can.
Whit comes from privilege and wealth and Aly the opposite. Both have rejected their respective upbringings and flipped their economic circumstances–Whit is struggling to make ends meet and Aly has a lucrative career. How have their very different upbringings shaped the character’s values and approach to life? In the case of Whit, was it easier for him to choose to be the “black sheep” having grown up in a rich family? Could you have seen Aly choosing to follow a path like Hannah’s given her unstable childhood with her teenage mother?
If the story had a sequel, would you want to see the two characters reconcile with their families? Or are they better off having rejected–and being rejected by– their respective parents?
Jo, Hannah’s mom, plays an influential role in Aly’s upbringing, for both better and worse. Did your feelings about her as a character change as the story progressed? Do you think she gave good advice to Aly when she visited the Vineyard?
Whit tilts when he discovers Aly had been living with Kevin. Chas scolded him for being an idiot. At the time, you think he made the right decision in breaking up with Aly?
Do you feel like Aly should’ve dumped Kevin even before he cheated on her with Bex, or did you have sympathy for her hopes that things would get better?
Aly has a lesson to learn about taking charge of her own life and decisions and how controlling both Jo and Kevin were–and how she was complicit in allowing herself to be controlled. Did you figure out Aly had a pattern before she did?
When Aly and Hannah fight over Aly “borrowing” her parents, who were you sympathetic to–Aly or Hannah–or could you see both sides? Was Aly right to have continued to “borrow” them into adulthood, not even telling Kevin? Should she have realized the impact on Hannah continuing to maintain a close relationship with Jo?
How do you feel about Chas and Aly’s ruse, pretending to date to make Granny think Chas might someday have children? Should Aly have said something sooner to Granny?
Hannah says “Now I’m sounding woo-woo too, but I think the Vineyard’s got magical powers. Transformative, even. At least it feels that way to me. Not everyone feels it. But you’re lucky if you do.” Do you agree — do you think that places can have near-magical/transformative powers?
Dandelion-the-lamb is innocent and fresh, and probably not terribly smart. Would you have liked to see the book be “sheep-ier”? Did it make you want to watch lamb videos or go visit a farm? (My absolute favorite on Tik Tok and Instagram is Lilja from Iceland (@liljasdiary) and her adorable lamb “Soup-baby.”)
What are your predictions for Hannah and Lawrence? How did you feel about that relationship? I intentionally made the conflict socio-economic (MV elite vs. working class) not racial. Any feelings or opinions about that?
I adored Chas. And Nonna. Who was your favorite character and why?
The friendships between Whit and Chas and between Aly and Hannah are central to the story. Both go back to childhood. Did those friendships feel true to you? Do you think that it’s possible to have a deep friendship between people with little in common if they haven’t known each other forever?
If you could visit one of the settings in the book with one of the characters, with whom and where would you choose?
I’m a foodie and a cook, so I love adding food as an additional dimension to the book. Sheepish goes heavy into lobster and pasta. (No lamb!!!) Which dish would you have wanted to eat?
I also really like whales, so I included them too. (I was writing this when I was on a whale-watching trip in Baja Mexico.) Did that work to deepen the connection between Aly and Whit?
Sheepish isn’t “serious literature”–maybe you’ll learn some new things about Martha’s Vineyard but beyond that, it’s entertainment. Why do you think romances are so popular? Do you see any benefit from reading beach read/romcom novels — or is it just like snacking on a piece of candy, delicious but not good for you?
Do you believe in the ideal of happily ever after — or is that only fiction? When you pick up a book, do you want it to have a happy ending? I’m guilty of flipping ahead in a book when I get anxious about what is happening to a character to find out if things will turn out ok or not. Do you do that–and why or why not?
If Sheepish were adapted into a movie, which actors would you want to see play which characters?
If you could ask the author anything, what would it be?
Did this book make you want to visit Martha’s Vineyard? If you do, please let me know!