One of the novel’s most compelling mysteries is Joy’s immediate and unqualified embrace of a stranger who suddenly appears on the Delaney doorstep with a bizarre and improbable story. Examine the psychology of Joy’s acceptance of Savannah. What does it reveal about Joy?

Why does the novel leave ambiguous whether Savannah killed her mother? Why does the author leave the question unresolved?

What do you make of the Prologue in which a man happens upon the bike that Joy abandoned because it had a flat? The man steals the bike and puts it in his vehicle, only to be killed instantly just down the street when a truck plows into his car. It feels like a parable, as if a lesson should be learned. Apply the parable to each of the four Delaney children.