Analyze the novel’s portrayal of creativity and art. How do vocations such as Lucy’s writing career and Sullivan’s legacy as a visual artist incorporate both pragmatic financial and legal concerns alongside inspiration and creative impulse?

Although he is dead before the plot begins, Sullivan plays a significant role in the novel. Describe how he is vividly evoked through memories and conversation, and how he continues to shape the character arcs of Collins and Sara.

Analyze the depiction of domestic space in the novel, particularly Collins’s home and the apartment she eventually moves into. How is domestic space used to mirror the inner state of characters?

Analyze the role of Travis in the narrative. How does he contrast with the other male characters? What is the significance of the hint that a romantic relationship may develop between Travis and Marie (after her divorce)?

Discuss the symbolism of the snowy mountain setting where Collins suffers her fall.

How does the novel portray the experience of intense grief and loss? Compare it to portrayals of grief in memoirs such as Joan Didion’s The Year of Magical Thinking (2005) or All the Way to the River (2025) by Elizabeth Gilbert. How do fiction and memoir function to capture the nuances of grief differently?

Marie is the only one of the four friends who holds a traditional job during the time the plot unfolds. How does her role as a professor shape her character? Is her job a constraint or a sustaining force during a time of personal crisis?

The plot spans months, from autumn into the following spring. How do the changing seasons mirror the shifts and changes in the inner world of the four main characters?