Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. How did the dual-narrator structure of the novel shape your reading experience? Did you find yourself connecting more with one narrator’s voice? What was it about their perspective that drew you in?

2. How do you feel The Calamity Club engages with some of the criticisms of Stockett’s first novel, The Help? In what ways does this novel feel like a deliberate response or a completely different artistic endeavor?

3. Which character’s transformation surprised you the most? What did their evolution reveal about the pressures of their world?

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

1. Think about a time when standing up for someone else prompted you to discover a strength or courage you didn’t know you had. How does Birdie’s journey resonate with that experience?

2. Frances Tartt is deeply preoccupied with her social standing. Have you ever felt a similar pressure to present a certain image of yourself to fit into a new social or professional circle?

3. Have you ever been part of a group that came together under difficult circumstances to achieve a common goal? How did you navigate your individual and shared challenges to achieving that objective? How did this experience illuminate your understanding of the Calamity Club’s business challenges?

4. Meg develops a sharp, cynical wit as a survival mechanism against the cruelties of the orphanage. Do you use humor and intellect to protect ourselves in challenging situations? Did you find her coping strategies to be effective or limiting for her character?

5. After Rory’s deception is revealed, Frances must completely redefine her life and her future. Think about a moment when your own life plans were unexpectedly upended. How did you navigate that uncertainty and find a new path forward?

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

1. The novel uses the American eugenics movement to show how pseudoscientific ideas can be weaponized to control marginalized groups, particularly poor women. Where do you see similar arguments today that use claims of science or social good to justify policies that target or control specific populations?

2. How do the characters’ choices reflect the idea that ethics can be a luxury in times of extreme hardship? What parallels do you see between the economic anxieties of the 1930s and the financial pressures people face today?

3. What does the novel say about the danger of allowing individuals to merge their personal beliefs with institutional power? Can you think of contemporary examples where this dynamic is at play?

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

1. What is the significance of the boarded-up window in Meg’s office? How does it transform from a physical barrier into a symbol of hope and resistance as the story progresses?

2. How does the slow reveal of Garnett Pittman’s private motivations make her a more complex and frightening antagonist?

3. The Tartt mansion, Idlewilde, undergoes a dramatic transformation throughout the novel. How does the house itself serve as a character, mirroring the family’s fall from grace and the women’s resourceful, if illicit, fight for survival?

4. How does the novel explore the difference between lies that harm and lies that protect? At what point, if any, do the characters’ deceptions become morally indefensible to you?

5. In what ways do the male characters represent different facets of masculinity within this patriarchal society? How do their actions either uphold or challenge the systems that oppress the female characters?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. The story ends with Meg and Charlie driving toward a new life in California. Imagine you are writing an epilogue set 10 years later. What has become of Meg and Charlie?

2. If you were to create a soundtrack for a film adaptation of The Calamity Club, what songs would you choose for key moments? Consider the opening scenes at the orphanage, the formation of the club, and the final reunion between Meg and Charlie.