by Carys Davies
8. Aunt Julie regards Bellman as a fool; to Bess he is “grand and purposeful and brave” (p. 2). Knowing what happens, whom do you agree with more?
9. On page 113, Bellman thinks, “You had so many ways of deciding which way to live your life. It made his head spin to think of them.” What does he mean?
10. Bess will never know for sure what Old Woman was thinking while she was retrieving water for him at the pump. What do you think was going through his mind before fleeing? Where do you imagine he is headed after leaving Bellman’s farm?
11. West ends with a sequence dense with images that tie together elements from the entire story. Trace the journey of the objects in the images—the knitting needle, Elsie’s blouse, Bellman’s compass—and how their purposes have transformed.
12. West has been called a parable of the early American frontier. Is there a lesson to be learned from this story?
Enhance Your Book Club
1. The discovery of colossal animal bones that catches Bellman’s imagination in West is based on true events: In the late 18th century, Pleistocene megafauna fossils were discovered in northern Kentucky, and in fact, at many other sites across the United States as well. Research this chapter of paleontological history, including Thomas Jefferson’s own obsession with mammoths, and share your findings with the group.
2. Bess spends many hours at the subscription library in Lewistown poring over the maps and journals from Lewis & Clark’s expedition. Do some poring over these artifacts yourself online at https://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/ and discuss your findings with the group.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
© JONATHAN BEAN
Carys Davies is the author of two collections of short stories, Some New Ambush and The Redemption of Galen Pike. She is the winner of the 2015 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award and the 2015 Jerwood Fiction Uncovered Prize and the recipient of a Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library. She lives in northwest England.
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ALSO BY CARYS DAVIES
Some New Ambush: Stories
The Redemption of Galen Pike: Stories
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2018 by Carys Davies
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First Scribner hardcover edition April 2018
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-5011-7934-1
ISBN 978-1-5011-7936-5 (ebook)
