What Lies Between Us

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of graphic violence, death, death by suicide, child abuse, mental illness, and emotional abuse.

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. What was your initial reaction to the ending of the novel? Did you find Maggie’s decision to set fire to the house surprising and/or an appropriate conclusion to the work?

2. Did your sympathies shift between Nina and Maggie as the novel progressed?

3. John Marrs’s novel explores the consequences of family secrets, similar to Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl or Paula Hawkins’s The Girl on the Train. Which elements of What Lies Between Us did you find most effective in creating suspense regarding those secrets?

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

1. Nina’s treatment of her mother parallels Maggie’s earlier control over her. What do you think causes cycles of behavior to repeat across generations in families?

2. What objects would you include in your own memory box if you created one like Nina’s?

3. Maggie justifies her deception as protection. What is your view on withholding information from loved ones for their own good?

4. What boundaries do you consider important in maintaining healthy relationships?

5. Both characters believe they are victims of the other’s actions. How does this mentality affect one’s perspective on life, in your opinion or experience?

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

1. Nina experiences fugue states during which she commits violent acts she cannot later remember. What responsibilities does society have toward individuals with mental health conditions? 

2. The novel presents motherhood through various lenses: Maggie’s overprotectiveness, Nina’s desperate desire, and Jane Hopkinson’s adoptive relationship. Which cultural expectations about motherhood does the novel challenge or reinforce?

3. In what contexts do contemporary societies justify surveillance and control of others in the name of safety or protection?

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

1. What effect does the non-chronological narrative structure have on the story’s suspense and reveals?

2. Which narrator did you find more credible, Nina or Maggie, and what textual clues informed your trust or distrust?

3. The novel uses the colors black and red to symbolize Nina’s violent episodes. What other symbolic elements did you notice throughout the story?

4. Analyze how the home functions as both a sanctuary and a prison for different characters throughout the novel.

5. How does the subplot of the potentially abused girl across the street serve as a mirror to Nina and Maggie’s relationship?

6. Why might Marrs have chosen fire as the method of the home’s destruction in the climactic scene?

Encourage imaginative and creative connections to the book.

1. What do you imagine happens to Nina one year after the novel’s conclusion? Outline or draft a brief epilogue.

2. If you could read a chapter from Elsie’s perspective as she observes Nina and Maggie over the years, what insights might she provide?

3. If this story were adapted into a film like Stephen King’s Misery, which also explores captivity and psychological manipulation, what techniques would you use to portray Nina’s fugue states and the shifting power dynamics?

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