The Orphans book club notes

Bestselling author Fiona McIntosh is back with a historical fiction centring around Fleur and Tom. A chance encounter between the two changes the course of their lives, teaching them about love, life, and loss along the way.

The Orphans is a perfect book club pick, with plenty of scenes and themes to discuss with your reading group!

Discussion points and questions:

• Fleur and Tom are both orphans but they come from very different families. In what ways did their difficult childhoods influence the adults they became?
• Fleur believes that women can bring something very special to the funeral industry. What are those qualities, and do you agree they are important for end of life rituals?
• When Tom spots Fleur on the dancefloor, more than twenty years after their first meeting, he wonders whether it was destiny or fate that brought them together again. What do you think?
• ‘Well, there you are. He could be openly affectionate with your mother because that’s how a man should be with a woman – tender. But as a father, he probably thought his role was to turn you into a man. I’m sure you’ll say something like that to our son.’ Do you think this idea of fatherhood still exists in today’s society? How are things different now to the early 20th century when Tom grew up?
• ‘Grief is a curious drug.’ How do you think grief affects each of the main characters’ actions: Fleur, Tom, Henry and Irma?
• Fleur says: ‘I love my work. People think it’s bleak or frightening, but really it’s the opposite. It’s uplifting … an honour to take care of the beloved for their’ Discuss the ways in which this is so.
• ‘Be grateful for every good thing in your life, Tom, his mother had told him.’ Tom and Fleur both resist becoming bitter despite their hardships. What role do you think gratitude plays in this?
• Do you think Fleur did the right thing by Irma in court? What would you have done in her situation? Do you agree with Fleur’s belief that Irma’s death achieves nothing?
• Irma’s lies wreak havoc in Fleur’s life. How might Fleur’s future have played out if her train journey had ended differently?
• Did you recognise Jamie and Claire Wren from another of Fiona’s novels? Which other books by Fiona McIntosh have you read and enjoyed? Which is your favourite and why?