Ellie Hathaway begins the novel as a cynical legal professional and ends by concealing a crime. Trace Ellie’s transformation and argue how her evolving relationship with motherhood and the Amish community forces her to redefine her personal and professional understanding of justice.

The novel imbues mundane farm objects, such as the rusty scissors and unpasteurized milk, with significant symbolic weight. Select two such objects and analyze how they function to connect the pastoral setting to the novel’s central themes of hidden violence and maternal paradox.

What role does the baby’s gravesite play in the novel? What does it symbolically represent? Discuss how this symbolism lends insight into and develops Katie Fisher’s character.

While the title suggests a singular “plain truth,” the novel presents multiple, often conflicting, versions of truth: legal, psychological, religious, and factual. Analyze how Katie’s trial becomes a contest between these different forms of truth and what the novel ultimately suggests about the possibility of achieving objective certainty.

Aside from Aaron, identify another antagonist in the novel. Analyze how they push back against Ellie as the protagonist. How does their antagonism facilitate Ellie’s change throughout the course of the text?

Read David Baldacci’s novel A Calamity of Souls. How do both novels, as legal dramas, use the courtroom to explore issues of right versus wrong as a legal versus moral issue? How do the growth and development of Jack Robert Lee and Ellie Hathaway convey this idea?

Analyze how the actions of Katie, Sarah Fisher, and Ellie challenge traditional notions of motherhood and reveal the novel’s argument about the measures women take when constrained by patriarchal systems.

Contrast the characters of Adam Sinclair and Samuel Stoltzfus as foils. Analyze what theme is conveyed through their differences.