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9.3 The Keeper of Lost Things by Ruth Hogan



Group Activity: Keeper of Lost Things Jr. Sleuths 

For October book club, we are going to do a group activity where we pretend that we have been by Anthony Peardew and his Keeper of Lost Things organization to discover the true story behind several items that were found in an old estate sale.    

What you need to bring: 

Please bring 1 item or photo that has special meaning to YOU and place it in a clear plastic zip lock baggie (no bigger than gallon size).  As some of you in book club are related, the item should be something that NO ONE ELSE in the club would know about. 

What will happen:

When you arrive for book club, please place your items on the designated table  and during our pre-dinner and before our book club discussion time, everyone will have an opportunity to quickly examine the items on the table and will be asked to write on a Post It Note ONE GUESS they think might be TRUE about each item.   If everyone shows up to book club, each item will have 6 possible guesses (excluding your own item).    Examples of guesses might be: Circa 1970 or Prom momento, first date or Swedish.    Then during our dessert time, each item owner will read aloud the book club group guesses for their item and then they will briefly share the true story about their item.   There will be a small prize for the person or persons whose guess(es) come closest to the true story of each item. 

Remember this isn't supposed to be stressful at all,  just a fun way for us to connect to the storyline of the book and get to know each other better through our unique item reveals.  

Book Discussion Questions: 

  1. “When Laura is hired by Anthony Peardew on her thirty-fifth birthday, she thinks the job “had been the perfect present, and the beginning of hope.” What does Anthony see in Laura? Why are she and Padua perfect for one another? Is Laura in some way one of Anthony’s lost things?
  2. What do you make of Eunice and Bomber’s relationship? Were you disappointed to discover that it would never be romantic?
  3. Anthony reflects that “he could not regret his life without Therese. . . . To give up when she had died would have been the greatest wrong; to throw away the gift that had been snatched from her would have been an act of appalling ingratitude and cowardice.” How does that square with his solitary life, surrounded by his lost things? Is Anthony truly living without her, or is he merely existing? What do you think he would say?
  4. Even her parents and brother seem to find Portia’s company almost intolerable. Is she in any way a sympathetic character? Does Portia evolve over the course of the novel?
  5. When she handles Anthony’s lost things, Sunshine seems to know their stories, saying, “I can feel it. I don’t think it in my head, I just feel it.” Why do you think that is? What other aspects of this story seemed touched with the magical or otherworldly?
  6. Why does Laura seem so reluctant to commit to her romance with Freddy? What was the turning point for her?
  7. What finally quiets Therese’s mischievous ghost? Was she trying to teach a lesson to the living, or did she require their help in order to find peace at last?
  8. Did Eunice do the right thing when she opened the windows of Bomber’s room? What would you have done if you were her?
  9. Laura refers to “The Truth Fairy had a very suspicious nature.” Who was the Truth Fairy?
  10. What did Eunice find when she left her interview with Bomber? What’s its significance to the story?
  11. What’s the story behind the lost blue-sky puzzle piece?
  12. Bomber felt that “the wonderful thing about books was that they were films that played inside your head.” Do you agree? Is that always the case? Have you ever read a book then watched the movie adaption and been satisfied with both?
  13. Eunice feels sad that “the best day of her life so far had been the last day of someone else’s, and all that had separated them had been a few feet of tarmac.” What happened? Theoretically, we all know that is possible, but has it ever happened to you?
  14. The term codswallop is used several times throughout the book. What does it mean? Did you have to look it up? What’s a Ming-Mong? What’s a Dancing Drome? How do those terms appear in the novel? Were there other terms in the novel that you looked up?
  15. At a point in the story, Theresa’s photo always appears face down. Why? When Laura replaces it in its upright position, she says “I hope to God you find each other,” and then wonders “to herself if that counted as a prayer.” What counts as a prayer? Who is the “each other” she refers to?
  16. Why do you think the clock always stops at 11:55 pm? If it’s a windup clock, shouldn’t the stopping time vary?
  17. Sunshine frequently refers to Anthony as St. Anthony. Who was St. Anthony and where did he come from? Did you look it up while reading the novel? Are you familiar with the Miracle Prayer to St Anthony? How does it relate to the novel’s plot?
  18. What do you think happens to the characters in this novel after it ends? What comes next in the lives of Laura, Freddy, Sunshine, and Eunice?

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