Forget Me Not

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What are the strengths and weaknesses of Forget Me Not as a mystery? Are its revelations a surprise? Were you able to predict the killer?

2. How does Forget Me Not compare to Stacy Willingham’s other books, such as A Flicker in the Dark, All the Dangerous Things, and Only If You’re Lucky?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. After Annie realizes that Lily and Mitchell caused Katherine to disappear, she escapes the family and returns to her more conventional life, albeit without exposing the commune’s crimes. Have you ever chosen to keep a secret instead of revealing it? How do your own experiences with secrecy compare to Annie’s?

2. Claire struggles to connect with others even though she desperately wants to, as her experiences of emotional neglect as a child leave her feeling wary. How has your childhood impacted your own emotional development and attitude towards relationships, for better or worse?

3. Has anyone you know ever been drawn in by someone who was like Mitchell Galloway? What was going on in their life that left them susceptible to manipulation? How did they—if they did—break out of the situation?

4. Marcia is deeply affected by seeing a photo of Annie, now healthy and happy with Alan, because it breaks the spell the “family” has over her. Has seeing a photo of someone else, or hearing about their life, ever personally made you take steps to change your own life?

Examine the book’s relevance to societal issues, historical events, or cultural themes.

1. Forget Me Not begins with an epigram from Susan Atkins, who was a member of Charles Manson’s cult in the late 1960s. By drawing on the real-life Manson family, how does Willingham’s book serve as a commentary or warning about cults or cult-like behavior?

2. Many of the parent-child relationships in the novel are damaged, dysfunctional, or nonexistent, which causes emotional hardship for the children. What does this book suggest about the necessity of positive parental involvement?

3. How do our cultural expectations regarding female “sisterhood” inform this novel? Do our thoughts about how women treat women make it more difficult to spot a person like Lily? Explain your reasoning.

Dive into the book’s structure, characters, themes, and symbolism.

1. How does the interweaving of three different time periods (1984, 2002, and the present) shape the narrative of Forget Me Not? How does it illuminate the text’s interest in the relationship between past and present?

2. How does the character Claire grow psychologically in the novel? What does she have to let go of and what does she have to work toward in order to progress?

3. How does setting the action on a remote vineyard in the South surrounded by deep woods and marshland add to the ambience of the novel? How is it described?

4. Identify and discuss how many of the characters struggle with their guilt throughout the novel. How do they differ from characters like Lily and Mitchell, who don’t feel guilt?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1.   If you could add an extra scene to the book, which characters would you focus on?

2.   Imagine that Lily kept a diary the way Marcia did, during the period the two women knew each other. Choose a key scene featured in Marcia’s diary and rewrite it from Lily’s perspective.

3. If you were an editor who had to splice together key images from the book to create a movie or book trailer—which ones would you consider essential?