1. Did you ever desire to create a memoir for future generations? Do you keep a photo album or a scrapbook? What sorts of feelings do you get when looking back into your past? Teddy felt that his memories were starting to fade, and he feared he was losing a part of himself. Did you ever experience those feelings?

2. At the end of the book, Teddy and Julia are not the same people that they were in the beginning. How did they change? What were the major shifts in their personalities, and what caused them?

3. Teddy and Julia could have gone home with the consulate staff in 1941, but they chose to stay in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. Did you feel that was realistic? Was it strength, or was it recklessness?

4. Other than the fictional Teddy and Julia, there were real heroes in Holland, people like Henriette Pimentel, Walter Suskind and Johan van Hulst. What made them heroic?

5. As you read the story, what were your feelings about the US policies on immigration? Were they fair? Could a change in the immigration policy have resulted in many saved lives? How should Congress have dealt with the immigration demand?

6. Karyn spent months writing Teddy’s memoir from his dictations. She did it for free. Why did she stay with it? When it became apparent that Teddy could not locate Annie, Karyn’s sister, why did she continue with the assignment? What benefit was it to her?

7. Why is it so important to keep Holocaust stories alive? As disturbing as they are, what benefit is served by studying them?