Home Before Dark

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

1. Have you ever visited a haunted house? Share your personal experiences or any supernatural occurrences that someone you know might have witnessed there.

2. Who gets to define a family history? Do you think all voices are treated equally in shaping that history? Relate this idea to Ewan’s memoir and its effect upon Maggie’s life. How does Maggie feel when she sees her family history being defined that way in public?

3. Which would you rather accept: an unbelievable story or the horrifying truth that it is meant to conceal? How might you relate this idea to Ewan and Jessica’s motivations in hiding the truth about Petra? What did they hope to achieve by hiding the truth from Maggie? 

4. What are the biggest challenges that families face when trying to settle into a new home? Use your experience or the experiences of people you know to analyze the challenges that Ewan and Jessica face when they move into Baneberry Hall.

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

1. Analyze the dynamics between Maggie and the other characters through the lens of social class. How do Maggie’s relationships with the previous owners of the house and the people who come to work at Baneberry Hall offer insight into the novel’s stance on privilege and power?

2. The novel could also be seen as an homage to the trend of “true” horror stories, most famously The Amityville Horror, which was allegedly based on a real haunting. How might Home Before Dark serve as a commentary on true horror, sensationalized storytelling, and its modern-day iterations in ghost hunting shows?

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

1. Analyze Ewan’s memoir from a narrative perspective. What does Sager achieve by including excerpts from House of Horrors in his text? 

2. Discuss the symbolism of baneberries throughout the novel. Aside from their omnipresence in the landscape, why are they an apt name for the house in which the novel is set?

3. How does Sager establish a clear sense of Baneberry Hall as a space? Can you draw it from memory? What are the most concrete details that you can recall about the house? What symbolic role might these details play in developing the novel’s themes?

4. How does Ewan’s role evolve throughout the narrative? Discuss his role in relation to Maggie’s personal journey. Which plot points specify when that role shifts to something different?