1. Lucy returns to her hometown after her husband's death expecting quiet solitude, but instead finds a passionate new life she never imagined. Is it possible to return to our roots and reinvent ourselves? Can we really ever go home again?

2. Lucy tells us in the novel's first paragraph that "I didn't love Mitchell, but he was mine and that was something." Why did Lucy settle for a dull and barren marriage with Mitchell? How did it serve her?

3. Lucy has what might best be described as a prickly relationship with her mother, while her real mother figure is Aunt Dove. How did this influence Lucy's development, and how does it affect her approach to her new life?

4. Absent fathers is a recurring theme in the novel; both Lucy and Ash were abandoned as children by their fathers, and Ash himself left behind a wife and child. How are the characters affected by these absences? How are their relationships with one another influenced by them?

5. Ash is a man whose life has in many ways been defined by loss, yet he's managed to retain resiliency and faith in the future. Why does this element of his nature appeal so strongly to Lucy?

6. Lucy and Ash's budding relationship both scandalizes and titillates the residents of their hometown. How is their courtship influenced by this scrutiny? Do they come together because of or in spite of it?

7. Discuss the role music plays in the book, and in Ash's pursuit of Lucy.

8. Humor and pathos are interwoven throughout the novel. What is the function of each in the story? Does humor heighten tragedy, or diminish it?

9. In the final chapter, Lucy's observation of the memorial Ash has constructed for Mrs. Tanner's late husband evokes strong, and conflicting, responses in Lucy. What are some of the emotions this experience stirs up in her, and why?

10. Why is Lucy initially unable to grieve for Mitchell? When she does at last come to terms with his death, what has she learned? Could she have reached this knowledge without Ash's assistance? Do you think Lucy has forgiven Mitchell his shortcomings? Would Mitchell forgive Lucy hers?

11. Which character in the book did you best relate to on a personal level? Which one reminds you most of a friend or relative of your own? Which character would you most like to know? Why?

12. Could this story have happened anywhere but small-town Texas? What makes a piece of writing such as The Second Coming of Lucy Hatch regional, or universal?