1. Hazel’s mother sees signs of an extraordinary future for her daughter. While Hazel’s healing powers in Galway are certainly extraordinary, in what other, quieter ways does her mother’s prediction come true?

2. Discuss the nuanced nature of Hazel’s sudden gift of healing powers. How might a similar gift play out in your community?

3. What roles does Ben Robinson play in Hazel’s journey throughout the novel?

4. Hazel’s journey is often driven by dreams of the past and of the future. Can you compare this to your own experience?

5. How are the qualities of air --- smoke, fog, blue sky --- woven into the plot and themes of UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY?

6. Hazel, Tom and Georg were in various ways “orphaned.” How does this fact help bring them together?

7. As Hazel gradually discovers, the legacy of her birth mother, Margit Brandt, is complex. What challenges and unexpected gifts comprise this legacy?

8. What experiences help prepare Hazel for the challenge of life with Tom when he returns shell shocked, or as he would be diagnosed today, with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?

9. The communities in this novel struggle with cultural and ethnic diversity. How has this struggle changed or not changed in the last century? 

10. “We’re not the same,” Jim Burnett says after the war. How does the experience of World War I transform characters and communities in this novel?