“Is that possible?”
“Yes, it is. It’s an effort, like working a new set of muscles. Very hard to do at first, but gradually you gain control over it, and you can flex it whenever you want. And you know what? You can tell when you’re doing it right—because you feel good.”
“You feel good.”
“Yes. Mentally of course, but even physically. You really do. Sort of… protected and strong and lighthearted. As if something wonderful just did happen to you instead of will happen. It’s amazing the power you have, if you harness it. You can—”
“I can bend spoons by just looking at them?”
“Listen to me. You can bend even Time to your will. If you decide your future will be happy, then the present glows with anticipation. You can will yourself into a new state where things are… well, they’re just all okay.”
“Oh, that state. I know the one. Insanity.”
“It’s not, Vee. Possibly it’s a sister state—but if it is, who cares?”
“I can’t just will a life partner into existence.”
“No. But you can will yourself into a state where it doesn’t matter if one shows up or not.”
“Are you saying he’s more likely to show up that way?”
“No-o. Because if you thought that, you’d be lying to yourself about its not mattering. It has to be true.”
“And if it is true, if I honestly don’t care, does that help it happen?”
“Possibly… Because you give off such good vibes.”
“I already give off excellent vibes, Agatha. But the fact is, I could end up alone in life. I really could.” To guide Agatha’s response, she added after a pause, “Not that I think I will, really…”
But all she got was, “Of course you could end up alone. But it isn’t about being alone or accompanied, it’s about being happy. Alone can be one of the good ways to wind up. Look, you don’t know what the future will be, just how it will be—good. What kind of good, you have to wait and see. You have to trust in the benevolence of the Fates.”
The setting sun was lower now and redder, and its rays had turned the window shade a radiant orange. Valerie blew out a stream of air and tossed up her hand in a gesture of surrender. “Well, what the hell, I guess I might as well! And if it turns out I’m wrong—no, that you’re wrong—and the Fates screw me over and my life ends up being a heap of crap, at least I’ll only realize it at the last minute, and up to then I’ll have lived in a cloud of merciful delusion. I guess that’s better than seeing the shit coming at me the whole way, in 3-D and slow motion.”
“It really will be all right,” Agatha said matter-of-factly. “That’s the point. So you might as well spare yourself the worry.”
Valerie turned to the dazzling window and bit her lip, considering that.
Reading Group Guide
Here are a handful of thoughts, questions, and opinions that led to my writing this novel:
It has never made sense to me that typically after a divorce the woman stays in the family house with the children. Especially if she has been a housewife up to then, she has a life to rebuild and she needs time and space alone to do that.
I believe in the importance of fathering (where fathers exist), both for children and for men—real fathering, equal in time and intensity to mothering.
It's cruel to speak badly to a child of his mother or father. The temptation to bad-mouth an ex-spouse is one we fall into too often. Divorcing couples often pay lip service to the idea of “putting their children’s welfare first.” But what if a couple were really to do that? How would they go about it?
We would all like to believe that we have a reasonable amount of control over what happens to us, but I think the frightening truth is that we don’t. Chance is the main determining factor, and other people, even distant ones, play a bigger role in shaping our lives than it’s comfortable to think about. “A butterfly flaps its wings and…”
There are dreary ideas about “commitment” out there that need debunking. Promises are hot air, and trying to extract them from lovers is pointless and degrading. Relationships shift and evolve, like everything else in the natural world.
For some single mothers, banding together to form households could be a practical and life-embracing idea.
There’s often no rhyme or reason to who ends up with a partner in life and who doesn’t. Therefore that cannot be the seat of happiness.
Most often in life it isn’t so much a question of good guys and bad guys as a matter of casting. Whether you’re good or bad depends on what your role is in relation to mine.
In fiction, I like to come across the kind of observation that is not something I'd ever thought of before in quite those words, but the truth of it is so immediately apparent that I greet it with a shout of recognition, like an old friend.
There’s some comic potential in a difference of register between a rather formal narrator’s voice and the earthier speech of the characters.
Those are some of the elements I put together, and Leaving Sophie Dean is the result. I hope you enjoy it.
* * *
Discussion Questions For Book Clubs
How do the various friendships in the novel evolve, and how do they drive the plot?
A number of fathers are mentioned in the book, including Adam, Jacob, Henry, and Valerie’s unnamed father. Discuss their varying roles in their children’s lives.
How is suburbia depicted in the novel, and is that image true to your own experience of it?
What do you think of Henry’s views on “commitment” as he explains them to Sophie near the end of the book?
Do you have a favorite moment, character, or line?
“It’s simplistic and archaic to say that a failed marriage is one that ends in divorce, and a successful marriage is one that doesn’t. It’s possible to have a good short marriage, and a life-long failure.” Do you agree or disagree?
Is Milagros an important character? Why or why not?
Do you think Sophie’s strategy could work? What elements would need to be in place for it to work? Would you do it?
What future do you foresee for each of the main characters? Which character do you think “travels the farthest” in the course of the story?
Sophie compares loss of trust in a partner caused by infidelity to a crack in a plate, which will still show, even if mended, and still harbor germs. Do you agree with her, or do you think trust can be reestablished?
About the Author
A nomadic upbringing traveling through North America and Europe made Alexandra Whitaker a perpetual “new girl” who developed survival skills of observation and mimicry that would later prove to be useful writing tools. Necessity also made her a keen language learner. She speaks a few languages well, and a few more badly.
Elder daughter of bestselling writer Trevanian, she collaborated with him on various projects over the years. She has settled down at last in southwestern Europe with her British husband and their daughter. She writes fiction and runs a one-room hotel for solitary travelers.
She invites you to visit her website:
www.alexandrawhitaker.com
Contents
Title Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Reading Group Guide
About the Author
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2012 by Alexandra Whitaker
Reading Group Guide © 2012 by Hachette Book Group
All rights reserved. In accordance with the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, the scanning, uploading, and electronic sharing of any part of this book without the permission of the publisher is un
lawful piracy and theft of the author’s intellectual property. If you would like to use material from the book (other than for review purposes), prior written permission must be obtained by contacting the publisher at [email protected]. Thank you for your support of the author’s rights.
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First e-book edition: March 2012
ISBN: 978-1-455-50501-2
Leaving Sophie Dean Page 31
