Theo Of Golden

Before we talk about the book at all: tell us the small kindness a stranger once did for you that you still remember.

Where did you read most of this one, and did the book change how that chair or that hour felt?

The whole story turns on someone paying real attention to ordinary people. Who in your own life looks at you that closely, and what does it feel like to be looked at that way?

This town takes a newcomer in slowly and a little suspiciously. When have you been the new person somewhere, and what finally made you feel like you belonged?

If someone offered to buy your story for the price of a drawing, which story would you hand over first, and which one would you keep?

Which small moment in this book comforted you most, the kind you wanted to reread before turning the page?

There is a particular ache running under all the warmth here, a sense that kindness is often done by people carrying something heavy. Did reading it change how you think about what people might be quietly carrying?

Without giving anything away, this book left a lot of us sitting still for a minute when we closed it. What were you feeling in that minute, and has it stayed with you since?