Reading Group Guide
Louisa Hilliard, the last descendant of one of Charleston's oldest and most prominent families, comes upon the diary of one of her ancestors. The diary describes Charleston in the 1830s, a vibrant port city of whites and blacks, and recounts the story of Diana, a 19th-century slave who worked for the Hilliards. As Louisa learns of Diana's tragic fate, a ghostly presence begins roaming her house. Through her attempts to appease this presence and set right age-old wrongs, she discovers how her own life is entangled in her family's haunted history.
Discussion Questions:
1. Describe Louisa's relationship with her mother. How is it shaped by the family's having owned slaves?
2. Why does Louisa feel the need to archive her memories in such a systematic way? How does this make her similar to her great grandmother, Eliza Hilliard?
3. After the hurricane, Louisa calls a former servant for help cleaning her house. What does her manner of asking for help say about Louisa? Why is she rebuffed?
4. How do various generations of Hilliards regard "Negroes"? What are the similarities and differences in attitude from one generation to another? What does the novel say about the roots of racism and bigotry?
5. Describe the tone of Eliza Hilliard's diary. What does it reveal about her? About the prevailing attitudes toward slaves in 1830s Charleston?
6. How does Eliza reconcile her devout Christianity with her treatment of and attitude toward slaves?
7. What does the diary reveal about the role of women gentry in a household at the time?
8. How is Diana different from the other slaves? What does she represent? Why does Eliza feel threatened by her?
9. How does Diana's message, "Come for my things," relate to the theme of the novel?
10. Louisa Hilliard writes, "...people will go to any lengths, any lengths at all, to believe what it comforts them to believe." What does this imply about the Hilliard family? How does it relate to how they deal with Hugh Hilliard's suicide and to their attitudes toward slavery?
About the Author:
Pam Durban is the author of The Laughing Place and All Set About With Fever Trees. She has received numerous awards including a Whiting Writer's Award. Her stories have appeared in New Stories from the South and in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. A native of South Carolina, she is the Doris Betts Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
