READERS GUIDE
Questions and Topics for Discussion
INTRODUCTION
Alice Love is twenty-nine years old, madly in love with her husband, and pregnant with their first child. So imagine her surprise when, after a fall, she comes to on the floor of a gym (a gym! she HATES the gym!) and discovers that she’s actually thirty-nine, has three children, and is in the midst of an acrimonious divorce.
A knock on the head has misplaced ten years of her life, and Alice isn’t sure she likes who she’s become. It turns out, though, that forgetting might be the most memorable thing that has ever happened to Alice.
ABOUT LIANE MORIARTYLiane Moriarty is the author of two other novels, Three Wishes and The Last Anniversary, both of which have been published around the world and translated into seven languages. She is also the author of the Nicola Berry series for children. Moriarty lives in Sydney, Australia, with her husband and two small, noisy children.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONSDid you like the younger Alice best? Or did you relate more to the older Alice?What would your younger self of ten years ago think of the person you are today?What would surprise your younger self most about the life you’re currently leading? What would disappoint you?What would you think of your children? Are they how you imagined they would be? Are you the parent you envisioned? Why or why not?Alice is shocked by many transformations—her gym-toned body, her clothes, her house. Are you more or less polished than you were a decade ago? And do you think there’s any deeper significance to such change?Do you think it was realistic that Alice ended up back with Nick? Were you happy with that ending? Do you think they would have ended up together if she hadn’t lost her memory?In order for Nick to be successful at his job, was it inevitable that he would spend less time with his family and thereby grow apart from Alice?How did you feel about the sections written from the perspectives of Elisabeth and Frannie? Did they add to your enjoyment of the book, or would you have preferred to have it written entirely from Alice’s point of view?Do you think it was unavoidable that Elisabeth and Alice had grown apart, because of the tension caused by Elisabeth’s infertility versus Alice’s growing family? Or do you think their rift had more to do with the kind of people both of them had become?It’s not only Alice who changed over the last decade. Elisabeth changed, too. Do you think she would have been so accepting of the new Alice at the end if she herself didn’t get pregnant?Out of all the characters in the book, who do you think had changed the most over the past decade and why?The film rights to the book have been sold to Fox 2000—who do you think would be good in the lead roles?If you were to write a letter to your future self to be opened in ten years, what would you say?
