1. Three troubled marriages are portrayed in Hill Towns: Colin and Maria's, Sam and Ada's, and Cat and Joe's. How are their struggles and coping methods unique? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each couple? How would you characterize each couple? What aspects of each relationship do you find healthy? Unhealthy?

2. Cat remarks that in Venice, "we began to change in earnest, Joe and I, on that first slow ride down the Canal Grande. Or perhaps it was simply that we began to become . . . us." What does she mean? How were they not themselves while still living at Trinity? What does it mean to 'become yourself?' What role did Venice and Italy play in their changes? Do you think they would have changed had they gone somewhere else in Europe? Or if they had merely gone somewhere else in America?

3. How does Catherine's pathology of needing to always be "able to see what was coming" manifest itself in her behavior? How has it shaped her identity? What is it that enabled her to break free from her fears?

4. How have Cat and Joe coped with their daughter's blindness? Has Lacey's disability served to bring them closer together, or has it planted the seeds of disunion?

5. Compare Joe and Sam. What qualities does Italy draw out of each? What about each of them attracts Catherine? Why are Sam and Joe drawn to Catherine? Which one best understands Cat's needs and desires?

6. Why do you think Sam wants to paint Cat's portrait? What is it he is trying to capture on canvas? Why does Sam show Cat Bernini's "Saint Teresa in Ecstasy?" What is the relationship between Sam's art and his sexuality?

7. Cat and Joe's relationship undergoes a profound change as a result of their visit to Italy. By the end of the novel, what is the state of their marriage? Has Cat betrayed Joe? Has Joe betrayed Cat? How do you define betrayal? What do you think is the next step?