READERS GUIDE

1. The epigraph at the beginning of Room and Board is from Muriel Spark: “Give me a girl at an impressionable age and she is mine for life.” How do you think this line relates to the novel? How did Gillian’s time at Glen Ellen as a teenager have an effect on the rest of her life?

2. What do you think of the scandal that happened to Gillian? How do you blame, or excuse, her role in it?

3. Are there ways that you saw yourself in Gillian having back-burnered her personal life for her career for a time in her life? How does that change for Gillian, and how has that changed for you?

4. What did you make of the romance in this story? Were you Team Aiden?

5. When Freddy and Farrah start to gain public attention, how does Gillian react? Do you think her experience as a publicist to celebrities, as well as the very public implosion of her career, makes her more hesitant to work with Freddie and Farrah?

6. Gillian talks about not being on par economically with the other students when she attended Glen Ellen on scholarship. Even in the present, for Parents’ Day, she talks about putting together her “casual rich lady” look. How does the wealth discrepancy between herself and the others who are connected with Glen Ellen affect her both as a child and an adult?

7. Do you think that the life Gillian finds at Glen Ellen is ultimately more rewarding than her earlier career as a celebrity publicist? Why or why not? How important do you think community is when it comes to building a fulfilling life?

8. How does sense of place matter to the novel? How might the story’s events be different had they happened at a New England boarding school?

9. There has been a recent trend called “the great resignation,” where people quit their jobs and either move home or to a dream spot to start a new life. This is, in a way, what Gillian does. Where would you go and what would you do if you could quit your life?