1. In what ways do Ruth’s memories keep her company? In what ways do these same recollections mislead her?

2. What were your first impressions of Frida and George? How did your opinion of them shift throughout the novel?

3. When Ruth and Frida clash, what strategies do they use to try to get what they want? What motivates them? What are their greatest vulnerabilities?

4. Discuss Ruth’s relationship with her son Jeffrey. In what ways do they both behave childishly sometimes? At what point do sons and daughters have the right to start parenting their elderly moms and dads?

5. Like Ruth, Harry had a missionary childhood. What else did they share? What were the joys and shortcomings of their marriage? How might it have compared to a marriage with Richard?

6. Frida is surprised by Ruth’s career in elocution. How does Ruth’s love of language enhance her experience of the world? How do class and ancestry, including the ability to “speak posh,” come into play in the novel?

7. What does the tiger mean to Ruth at various turning points in The Night Guest? What role does she give the other cats in her life? What makes the felines appropriate to her story?

8. Discuss Ruth’s experience as a meditation on the aging process. How does she balance her loneliness with her wish for privacy? How does she reconcile her fierce independence with her fears and her frailty, which make her dependent on others?

9. What does the novel illustrate about the process by which trust is gained? Who is the shrewdest character? Who is the most naïve?

10. How is Ruth’s identity shaped by the places she has lived? What is the impact of her years in Fiji? And how is she affected by the isolated landscape of her final home?

11. In the end, Ellen considers Jeffrey and Phillip to be irresponsible. Do you agree? Who will be obligated to look after you in your final years?

12. Just as Ruth gets to reconnect with Richard, is there a chapter from your past that you would like to have a chance to reopen?