All Fall Down (30 page)

Questions for Discussion

1. Sunny’s mother is the
   one who decides to send her daughter and grandchildren into the world of
   the blemished, despite everything she’s always claimed to believe. Yet
   it’s likely she knew of the abusive aspects of life within the family,
   specifically those perpetrated by the man she loved, John Second. Did
   Trish saving Sunny and the kids negate what she’d allowed to happen for
   years? What do you think really prompted her to save them?
   
2. Liesel has wanted
   children for a long time, yet she is surprised by the difficulties she
   faces in taking care of three children under the age of four, as well as
   a teenager. Do you think most women have unrealistic expectations of
   motherhood? Did Liesel, or was her situation so difficult because it was
   unusual?
   
3. Discuss how you think
   you would react if it was suddenly revealed that your spouse had a child
   you knew nothing about. Would your inclination be to welcome him or her
   in? Would you see them as a potential threat to your
   relationship?
   
4. Christopher never
   discusses his first marriage to Trish with Liesel. The arrival of Sunny
   in his life obviously brings back painful memories he finds hard to deal
   with. What do you think makes it so difficult for Christopher to relate
   to her?
   
5. Though it’s mentioned
   that Sunny undergoes counseling with Dr. Braddock, she discontinues it
   after a relatively short period of time. Would it have helped or made no
   more difference to Sunny if she’d stayed in therapy for a longer
   time?
   
6. Do you think couples
   without children have fewer issues or troubles? How did not having
   children affect Liesel and Chris’s marriage? How would you characterize
   their marriage before Sunny? Discuss how their relationship might have
   been different if they’d had a baby of their own before Sunny’s
   arrival.
   
7. Some mainstream
   religions are criticized for what are thought to be unusual practices or
   beliefs—plural marriages, living apart from society, shunning
   technology, publicly “spreading the word.” Why are we uncomfortable with
   some practices? Do you feel some groups have more validity than
   others?
   
8. Sunny is wary of
   Josiah, even though her memories of him are mostly positive. Yet in the
   end, he’s the one she calls for help. How did you see Josiah—as a force
   for good in Sunny’s life, or as a potentially dangerous tie to the
   past?
   
9. The basic beliefs of
   the Family of Superior Bliss are taking care of the earth and the
   members’ “vessels” through positive actions such as caring for the
   environment and avoiding toxins. Obviously, that message became warped.
   Why does Sunny cling to the past hard enough to feel as though she
   didn’t fit in either place? Why might someone feel drawn to a join a
   group like the family?
   
10. In the end, Sunny’s
    children are being raised by Liesel and Christopher while Sunny herself
    remains hospitalized and in counseling. “Maybe next time” is the message
    she gives her children when they ask when she’ll be going home with
    them, and the one she thinks of when she’s alone. Where do you see Sunny
    in six months, a year, five years? Is it realistic that she will ever
    get beyond the programming she experienced her whole life? Would it be
    terrible if she rejoined Josiah as part of the family instead of living
    a “normal” life?
    

Acknowledgments

S
pecial acknowledgments to a few people who helped me with some technical details:

Jim Thomas, retired sergeant from the Cincinnati Police Division—thank you for your answers to my questions.

Detective Leah Apple, who also provided me with some specific and important details.

The delightful limecello also came to my aid.

—If I got it right, it’s because they helped me. If I got it wrong, it’s all my own fault.

And finally, I could write without music, but I’m so very glad I don’t have to. Turn the page for a partial playlist of what I listened to while writing
All Fall Down.
Please support the artists through legal means.

Listening Guide

“The Banality of Evil”—Nine Horses

“After Afterall”—William Fitzsimmons

“Swans”—Unkle Bob (played it more than three

hundred times)

“Breathe Me”—Sia

“Lux Aeterna”—Clint Mansell

“Everything”—Lifehouse

“This Is Calm”—Christopher Dallman

“Josiah”—Aiden James

“Simple Gifts”—Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss

“The Sound of Silence”—Simon & Garfunkel

“Beeswing”—LJ Booth

“Somebody Loved”—The Weepies

“The Chain”—Ingrid Michaelson

“Oceanic 815”—Michael Giacchino

“Lullabye”—Arcady

“All Through the Night”—Jeff Johnson and Brian Dunning

“Connamara Cradle Song”—Mairéid Sullivan

ISBN: 9781459219014

Copyright © 2012 by Megan Hart

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