READERS GUIDE

Reader’s Guide
The Secret Love Letters of Olivia Moretti by Jennifer Probst
Discussion Questions:


1.   Priscilla, Devon, and Bailey are all very different women. Did you relate to one of the sisters more than the other characters? How did their different personalities and beliefs about their mother cause discord between them?

2.   Do you agree with Olivia’s decision to keep her romance and the Positano home a secret from her daughters until after her death? Why or why not?

3.   Olivia makes some difficult decisions throughout her relationship with Rafael. What did you see as the turning point in their relationship? And how did each decision she made about their possible future affect her?

4.   Positano becomes almost an additional character in the story. What were your favorite scenes? Have you ever visited Italy? To which region would you most like to travel?

5.   When Priscilla takes a walk on the Path of the Gods, the physical hike becomes a personal journey for her. Did you have any strong feelings about the fate of her marriage and her choice to give up ballet?

6.   When Devon meets Hawke, she believes he’s interested in Bailey. Were you surprised he had a stronger connection with Devon rather than Bailey? Why? In what ways were Hawke and Devon well suited?

7.   Devon and Bailey were estranged due to a decision Bailey made years ago. Can you relate to Dev’s feeling of betrayal? Or did you think she should have forgiven her sister sooner? Did you see Hawke’s arrival as a problem for the sisters?

8.   Which of the sisters did you feel changed the most after their trip to Italy together?

9.   Olivia’s love story is interwoven throughout the sisters’ story. Did you like having her point of view included in the story?

10. Did you agree with Olivia’s decision to give her husband a second chance? Why or why not? If she had decided to stay with Rafe, how do you think the story would have changed? Would she have been any happier, in your opinion?

11.  What were your feelings about Rafe? Do you agree with him responding to Olivia’s letters? Do you think if he’d met her for her sixty-fifth birthday, they would have ended up together?

12. Life is a series of both choices and surprises that throw us off our path. Do you think Olivia and Rafe were soul mates? Or was it just the bond of first love? Discuss.

13. Each of the sisters faces a challenge in her life when she decides to go to Positano. Do their journeys resolve their conflicts? In what way?

14. The Secret Love Letters of Olivia Moretti has strong themes of love—how many distinct love relationships can you identify in the novel? Did you feel more strongly connected to one relationship than another?

15. Olivia and Rafe relied on their written correspondence to communicate with each other. Do you believe old-fashioned letters are more powerful than verbal or digital communication? Have you ever written a love letter? Had one written to you?