Discuss the themes of motherhood and parental rights in Child of Mine with your book club.
Spanning three decades, Janita Cunnington’s Child of Mine is a deeply resonant novel about a maternal tug-of-love and the little girl caught in the middle.
Discussion points and questions:
- Why is the dying Vera distressed by the sweet peas Maggie brings her?
- The lattice doors of the Hill Street cottage are mentioned at various points throughout the story. Why are they important?
- The story is told from two contrasting points of view — Maggie’s and Donna’s — and its driving force is their rivalry over the child. How does Maggie’s relationship with the child evolve? How does Donna’s?
- Who is in the right, Maggie or Donna?
- Maggie and Phyllis are very different characters. What do they have in common that would account for their friendship?
- In what way are the minor characters — Gwen Trimmer, her son Lance and Spencer — important to the story?
- Why do Maggie and Flora quarrel when they meet again?
- What lesson does Donna have for Maggie in the end?
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