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Our Reader's Guide to Belong to Me
Book Cover and Author Image. Title: Belong To Me, Author: Marisa de los Santos
A Circle of Friends Bound by Secrets and Love

"On a recent rainy Monday, I'd tried imagining the last month and a half of my life as a feature film, a game I play, secretly, fairly often, and that I'm convinced other people play, secretly too," confesses Cornelia Brown, whose witty observations and small epiphanies in the pages of Marisa de los Santos' Belong to Me surround readers like the warm embrace of an old friend. Cornelia and her impossibly handsome husband, Teo Sandoval, made their debut in the author's Love Walked In.

As the new book begins, the couple is settling into their first house on an idyllic street in a picturesque Philadelphia suburb. Cornelia is inexplicably drawn to "this unsurprising place" that she yearns to call home, but her neighbors are less sure of how these transplanted, apparently childless urbanites will fare in their midst. Especially Piper Truitt. The epitome of blonde cool, this demanding mother of two has created her own version of perfection within the walls of a home that sits across the street from Cornelia's. From their early encounter at a dinner party, the two are at odds, a situation that Cornelia, adrift from her familiar surroundings, cannot conceive how to navigate.

As the novel progresses, new characters emerge. We meet Elizabeth, Piper's best friend, who's battling cancer, as well as Toby, Cornelia's brother, and Clare, the bright and compassionate teen familiar to readers of Love Walked In. Then there's Lake, a single mother working at a local Italian restaurant, who throws Cornelia a timely lifeline in the form of a dish of spaghetti alla puttanesca. Lake's son Dev, a preternaturally gifted 13-year-old, becomes Cornelia's unexpected kindred spirit. Deftly blending several tales at once, de los Santos's narrative is richly embroidered with intertwined lives and loves. As present circumstances are threatened by the revelation of past secrets, the friends forge a circle of strength and forgiveness that the reader, too, belongs to — and will hate to leave when the last page is turned. A triumphant testimony to the power of love, Belong to Me hums with the hope that pulls friends through the ups and downs that the years hold in store for everyone.


Read an Excerpt

"It hit me then: Lake needed a friend, probably more than I ever did. She wasn't desperate (I thought that in her own way, Lake must be as immune to quiet desperation as Toby), but she needed a friend, and her need made her fragile as I'd never imagined she could be. So, with the sudden tenderness tugging on me as a gentle current and because I've required enough second chances myself to be a true believer in them, I took three big steps toward Lake, hugged her, sat her down, and made her talk."
—from Belong To Me

*Download the PDF version of our Reader's Guide *
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About the Author

Belong to Me is Marisa de los Santos' second novel. Her bestselling debut, Love Walked In, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers selection, has been optioned for film by Sarah Jessica Parker. De los Santos' fiction is peopled with fully realized personalities. She explains, "When it comes to creating characters, I'm a cunning and unrepentant thief. I steal all kinds of qualities, quirks, and language from people I know and from total strangers, but there's no character in my novel who matches up with one person walking around the real world." The protagonist of Love Walked In, Cornelia Brown, makes her second appearance in the pages of Belong to Me, and de los Santos admits that readers may not have seen the last of her. "She's a very hard girl to refuse, so if somewhere down the line she decides she's not finished with me, I'll have no choice but to write more of her story. Actually, I'd love it if that happened." Originally from Baltimore, de los Santos received a B.A. from the University of Virginia, an M.F.A. from Sarah Lawrence College, and a Ph.D. in English literature and creative writing from the University of Houston. The award-winning poet currently teaches English at the University of Delaware and lives in Wilmington with her husband, David, and their children, Charles and Annabel.

* Get the most out of Belong to Me with these reading group discussion questions.
  1. Why does Cornelia leave the city behind to settle with Teo in the suburbs? What does she hope to find there? Does her idea of suburban life prove to be accurate?
  2. Why do you think Piper dislikes Cornelia almost instantly? On what does she base this judgment?
  3. How would you describe Piper's friendship with Elizabeth? In what ways does it deepen or complicate our sense of who Piper is?
  4. Dev's relationship with Lake changes over the course of the novel. How does it evolve? Are they a typical mother and son?
  5. The female friendships in Belong to Me are both nurturing and complicated. Were the friendships in the book reminiscent of any in your own life?
  6. When Lake's elaborate web of lies comes to light, she explains that she did it all for Dev. Have you ever lied in order to protect the people you love? Can you imagine making similar choices if you were in Lake's position?
  7. How does Cornelia's experience of childbirth lead her to make a decision that will profoundly affect the people in her life?
  8. At one point, Cornelia says, "Hey, Piper, here's a radical idea: be true to yourself." Why does this make such an impact on Piper? In what way has she lived her whole life without being true to herself?
  9. Cornelia believes in taking leaps of faith, in simply choosing to believe in something or someone. What leaps do we see her take? Do you think she regrets any of them by the time the book ends?

Further Reading: Love Walked In by Marisa de los Santos; Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen
* Praise for Belong to Me

"I was fooled into thinking this was going to be a fluffy chick-lit kind of book. Boy, was I wrong! I became so involved with these charming, fully-developed characters. The writing is so luscious! Like biting into a juicy peach, where every sense is touched and filled with delight and wonder."
—Dorothy Newmark, Freehold, NJ

"You will like, love, and hate these characters. But ultimately, you will miss them once they're gone. All I can say is, I want more!"
—Rosey McArdell, Apple Valley, MN

"For anyone who has ever felt they don't fit in with the crowd. Spunky and fierce, Marisa de los Santos rewrites the whole chick-lit genre."
—Angel Ramandt, Ellicott City, MD

"Reading Belong to Me was like eating a delicious candy bar that — as it turns out — just happens to be good for you."
—Rebecca Fell, Hamilton, NJ

Praise for Love Walked In

"It's the kind of book that makes you want to hunker down on a chilly day in a comfy chair and read straight through 'til dark."
—The Washington Post

"A touching, triumphant story of the power and variety and responsibility of love."
—Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club

"Love indeed walks in, and with it, a breath of fresh air!"
—Marie Claire, Ten Best (February 2006)

"It is impossible not to cheer for these characters…. A timeless gem."
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

"Smart, funny writing about the risks we take for love."
—Redbook