One of the Girls

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How did One of the Girls meet or challenge your expectations of the thriller genre? How does it compare to other contemporary thrillers you’ve read?

2. Were any of the plot twists or hidden secrets surprising to you? Which had the most impact?

3. How did the book balance positive emotions and experiences like friendship and love with negative ones like fear, suspicion, and self-doubt?

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

1. Which character did you relate to or sympathize with the most, and why? What did you find most relatable about this character?

2. Throughout the book, characters wrestle with The Pressure of Patriarchal Gender Norms. How have societal expectations of gender impacted your life?

3. Have you ever been in a situation where you had to help someone despite being justifiably angry at them, as when Eleanor rescues Bella despite the knowledge that Bella accidentally killed her husband? How did you reconcile these conflicting emotions?

4. Why might friendship and solidarity be more important than ever for women in modern society? How has friendship enhanced your life or the lives of women and femme-identifying people you know? How does this align with the book’s portrayal of The Power and Precarity of Female Friendship?

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

1. How are sexual violence and the long-term impact of trauma portrayed in the novel? Do you think the story engages responsibly with these topics?

2. What is the novel communicating about both the shared and individual experiences of women? How do these women support each other? How do they oppress or undermine each other?

3. The book explores the power of Secrets as Bond and Solvent—both binding the women together and tearing their relationships apart. Do secrets work similarly on a societal level?

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

1. Did the alternating perspectives enhance or distract from your reading experience, or both? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this structural choice?

2. How did the setting on a remote Greek island contribute to the story’s mood and tension?

3. Were the conflicts resolved in the story’s conclusion? How did Clarke use thriller/mystery techniques such as misdirection and red herrings to manipulate your expectations?

4. How were food and drink used in the story, and why did these motifs feature so prominently?

5. How did the symbol of the rowboat shift from one of death to one of life? What other symbols change their meanings over the course of the novel, and how so?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. Who would you choose to direct a film or series adaptation of the novel and why?

2. What song would you attach to the moment where Eleanor drifts out to sea in the rowboat?

3. If you could choose one main character to create a spin-off story, who would it be? What would be the general plotline of that story?

4. Choose a particularly impactful scene and rewrite it from the perspective of another character.

5. Magazines: How do they perpetuate the pressures and expectations that women face? Create a collage with images that communicate both healthy and unhealthy depictions of women.