1. Teddi follows her dream to work with furniture despite her mother's lack of support, and she works hard to make her vision a reality. Do you have a similar passion or drive?

2. Why did Hoffman choose birds as the animals that mean the most to Josh? What does a bird represent?

3. On page 197, Teddi's grandmother says, "Sometimes it's not what we hold onto that shapes our lives but what we let go of." How does this apply to Teddi? To your own life?

4. Teddi finds a beautiful silk nightgown in her mother's dresser. Why do you think her mother kept it for so many years?

5. The novel is filled with colorful characters. Besides Teddi, who was your favorite and why?

6. Hoffman writes that the difficulty of returning home is that "a piece of us stays behind when we leave-a piece we can never reclaim, one that awaits our next visit and demands that we remember" (page12). Do you agree?

7. Teddi struggles to get her mother to see her for what she really is. Did she succeed? Did you have a similar situation with your own parents? With your own children?

8. Do you think that Josh killed the poacher?

9. Looking beyond the events of the novel, do you imagine that Teddi and Josh will be reunited?

10. In the hospital, Teddi nearly tells her mother that she loves her but decides against it. Why? If she had, how do you think her mother would have reacted?

11. Why does Hoffman end the novel with the word "Menewa"?