1. 'He got so impatient with my favourite books that one momentous day, before I was four, he taught me to read in self-defence. This confirmed me as his creature.' Assess the different ways in which Lorna became her grandfather's creature, and the way in which he continued to influence her after his death.

2. Discuss the role that books and reading came to play in Lorna's life.

3. Compare and contrast the atmosphere in the three family homes in Bad Blood: the Vicarage; no. 4, The Arowry; and Sunnyside.

4. 'Hanmer was a most picturesque place from a certain distance, but close up its substance was heavy and strange.' Discuss Lorna's relationship with her hometown.

5. What can we learn about post-war England from Lorna's experiences in Bad Blood.

6. Amongst other things, Bad Blood is a vivid anatomy of three marriages; Lorna's maternal grandparents; her parents; and her own, with Vic Sage. Discuss the very real differences between these three marriages.

7. 'The magic of the Church no longer impressed us. Our own bodies were more mysterious than the wine and wafers…' Discuss the changing role of religion in Lorna's life through Bad Blood.

8. 'She and I now formed a kind of miniature generation ourselves, we were furiously impatient to be teenagers.' Discuss Lorna's friendship with Gail and their experiences in adolescence.

9. Rachel Cusk, reviewing in the London Evening Standard, suggested that 'this "memoir" has all the qualities of fiction.' Discuss the ways in which Lorna Sage achieves this in her writing.