Newport: A Novel (28 page)
Authors: Jill Morrow
1. At the beginning of the novel, Adrian keeps tight control over his passions and emotions. Why does he do this, and what allows him to finally let those defenses fall?
2. Catharine leaves Adrian as an act of love. Had she stayed, do you think their marriage would have been successful? Would they have been happy with each other?
3. What might Jim’s life have been like had Adrian not stepped in to help fund and mold his future?
4. Bennett Chapman has been belligerent, self-centered, and ill-behaved throughout most of his life. Why, then, is he so willing to believe that his wife, Elizabeth, has come back from the dead to contact him via séance? Why is he determined to follow her directives?
5. As you read, did you believe that Mrs. Chapman was indeed appearing in spirit, or were you skeptical? At what point did you feel that perhaps this was real? Or did you still have doubts at the end?
6. Catharine’s plan to quickly snag a wealthy husband in Newport seems rather a long shot. What compels her to try it? What other choices were open to a woman of her social status in her situation? What were the potential outcomes to those choices?
7. Catharine obtains the key to Nicholas’s incriminating documents through uncharacteristic physical contact with him after her wedding ceremony. Do you think Adrian knew of her plan?
8. Have you ever attended a séance or received a psychic reading? If yes, what made you go and what was the experience like? If no, is this something you would ever want to do? Why or why not?
Currently on my nightstand . . .
I read without rhyme or reason and love having a stack of books waiting for me. Already read or about to be read, this is what’s currently stacked within easy reach:
A Hundred Summers
by Beatriz Williams
97 Orchard: An Edible History of Five Immigrant Families in One New York Tenement
by Jane Ziegelman
Orphan Train
by Christina Baker Kline
Miss Manners’ Guide to Excruciatingly Correct Behavior
by Judith Martin
Garment of Shadows
by Laurie R. King
Newport
“
Newport
has it all: intrigue, scandal, and séances to summon a spirit that will not rest. The slow unraveling of tangled secrets will keep you turning pages long into the night.”
—Deanna Raybourn,
New York Times
bestselling author
“Jill Morrow’s
Newport
is a portrait of a long-lost era, a sophisticated drama, and a gripping mystery all in one. Full of delicious prose and surprising twists, this book is a delight, an engrossing read that goes down like a glass of the finest champagne.”
—Simone St. James, author of
The Other Side of Midnight
“Past and present collide in 1920s Rhode Island as long-buried secrets begin to come to light in this mesmerizing novel of love, loss, and redemption. Beautifully written and vividly detailed,
Newport
is an elegant and mysterious tale that will keep you entranced from beginning to end.”
—Ashley Weaver, Edgar Award–nominated author of
Murder at the Brightwell
“A delicious plunge into the gilded lives and mansions of another era,
Newport
sends you swimming through an intricate mystery involving money, tragedy, bittersweet love affairs, and voices from the beyond, until you arrive at the whirlwind ending. It’s everything you need for literary escape: a ripping good read.”
—Beatriz Williams,
New York Times
bestselling author
The Open Channel
Angel Café
Cover design by Amanda Kain
Cover photographs: © Peter Zelei / Getty Images; © Shutterstock (border)
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
P.S.™ is a trademark of HarperCollins Publishers.
NEWPORT
. Copyright © 2015 by Jill Morrow. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
ISBN 978-0-06-237585-8
EPub Edition July 2015 ISBN: 9780062375872
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