One Summer in Savannah: A Novel

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

1. How did you react to Sara’s approach to parenting Alana? Do you agree or disagree with her decision to keep Alana so isolated initially? Why?

2. Jacob and Sara both fled from their hometown following trauma and tragedy. Does this choice to leave resonate with any events from your life?

3. Family relationships in the novel are frequently complicated and fraught, especially between adult children and their parents. Jacob’s relationship with Birdie, in particular, is filled with unspoken conflict. What familial relationships have you struggled with, like Jacob struggles with Birdie?

4. A major theme in the novel is The Complex Nature of Forgiveness. Discuss a time in your life when you struggled to forgive someone. How does your experience connect to the questions and conflicts in the novel?

5. Harris describes the Wyler family as so influential and powerful in their community that Sara felt like her only safe choice was to move thousands of miles away after the trial. Often, people wield massive power in small environments. Describe an experience you’ve had with a powerful person or group that directly affected your life and choices. How did it impact you, emotionally and materially?

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

1. One Summer in Savannah explores the importance of remorse and atonement in the process of forgiveness. Discuss some of the avenues in modern society for atonement and expressions of genuine remorse. What societal factors complicate journeys toward forgiveness?

2. How does Harris’s narrative regarding sexual assault and rape prosecution align with your understanding of current criminal justice practices? What similarities and differences do you notice?

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

1. Harris chooses to tell this story in the present tense, and one of the primary motifs is time. Discuss how the verb tense interacts with the time motif.

2. Presenting this story in alternating first-person points of view lends equal weight to Sara’s and Jacob’s perspectives. Discuss how this narrative choice affects the story, its themes, and the development of the characters. How would the narrative change if it were narrated by only one protagonist?

3. Jacob and Sara both return to Savannah after spending time in remote areas. Compare the descriptions of Alaska and Maine with the descriptions of Savannah, Georgia. Discuss how the settings affect the feeling of the narrative.

4. The novel begins and ends with Hosea’s health condition, and the hospital figures prominently in the opening and closing of the novel. Discuss the effect of placing Sara’s return to Savannah and her final movement toward healing and forgiveness in a hospital.