Edge of Summer

A GUIDE FOR BOOK CLUBS

Thank you for bringing Edge of Summer to your group. It is the first book in the Anna Ghere Mystery Series. The questions are grouped by section, so you can take the book in parts or discuss it all at once. Use what is useful and ignore the rest — the best conversations tend to wander off the page anyway.

A word of warning: this is a mystery. The later sections give away who the man in the creek was, and what happened to him. If your group reads in parts, stop at the section you’ve reached.

Themes to Explore

The season within a season. Aunt Lo’s edge of summer is the place where “we stand in the breach, living in the tension” between what was and what will be. Anna spends the book in that breach, between child and something older.

Every person matters to someone. “What if he has a daughter who believes her father didn’t come home because he didn’t love her anymore?” A seven-year-old refuses to let a stranger stay a stranger, even when his cross reads Unknown.

Secrets and lies of omission. The notions man, the hidden buttons, a married man calling himself Harry Smith, a hobo mixing truth into his lies, and Aunt Lo’s one little white lie. Anna ends the book holding two secrets of her own.

Who you are underneath. Smitty is Harrison Smith MacDonell. Jimbo is someone else entirely. Anna, unsure of everything else, holds on to one fact: “My name is Anna Marie Ghere.”

The ordinary sparrow. Anna finds sparrows “brown and ordinary” next to the cardinals. Charlie and Popo disagree, Gem’s sparrow keeps watch, and Jimbo tells the Legend of the Sparrow.

Kindness at the back door. Mrs. Parlett’s suppers, Paul Lockwood’s leftovers, Gus’s quiet errands. The book also shows how easily that kindness can be used.

What money can and can’t buy. It’s the Depression, so every penny counts. Smitty says his riches “pale” next to love. Jimbo says money can buy anything, and in the end he may be right.

A town that talks. Sally at the switchboard, Martha, Alma Mae Butler, Aunt Iris, and a reporter who gives the town “the Corpse in the Creek.” Gossip moves faster than the sheriff does.

Memory as storytelling. An old woman admits she “boldly colors” the recollections of a seven-year-old “for the sake of my storytelling.”

Discussion Questions

Opening — the lily-of-the-valley, the ice, and Aunt Lo’s farewell

Mother says the lily-of-the-valley would never grow in her garden. They “thrive in the coolness of the shade” behind the barn, “hidden away from our day-to-day lives.” What else in this book thrives out of sight?
When Anna says a stranger pulled her from the ice and called her by name, Popo jumps to his feet. “He damn well better have been” an angel. Why fear and not relief?
Aunt Lo tells Anna, “Pay attention or you’ll miss the moment of its coming.” Is there a season or moment like the edge of summer in your own life?
At the depot, Aunt Lo promises that “the mysteries we solve during the heat of summer” will “yield a harvest of truth at its edge.” Now that you’ve finished, what was the harvest?
“Secrets are burdens far too heavy for seven-year-olds to bear,” Aunt Lo says, and Mother won’t meet Anna’s eyes. Who in the book is carrying a secret at that moment?

The Corpse in the Creek — the discovery and the first questions

Popo runs out barefoot in his undershirt “to make everything better.” Bernard tries to pray the man into heaven. “He didn’t budge.” How does the book use humor in a scene of death?
Mother says, “She’s seven years old.” Popo says, “We can’t protect her from this.” Which parent was right, and does the answer change by the end?
Anna says, “He matters to someone.” What is she really afraid of when she asks what would happen if it were Popo?
Sheriff Boggs says folks “have a heart for murder” because it keeps their minds off “the sad state this nation and their lives are in.” Why would a town in hard times want a murder?

The deputies — Hector Toops, Mrs. Parlett, and the rock

Gem sees a single sparrow above the dead man, its feathers matching his suit, and says, “I wanted to make sure it was real.” What did the sparrow mean to you?
Mrs. Parlett says of Jimbo, “We make memories with other people, not alone.” Knowing how the book ends, was she foolish to feed him, or was her loneliness the real danger?
Gem and Anna learn their brother Gus visits Mrs. Parlett and tills her garden without being asked, though he’s “not much of a conversationalist.” What does the book say about quiet goodness?
Gem says, “No one is going to lie. Keeping your mouth shut is something else entirely.” Bernard says, “Hain’t so.” Who’s right?

The hobo camp, the notions man, and the boys come home

Mother asks Anna to keep the notions man’s visit from Popo. Was that fair to ask of a child? What do you think the notions man was to Mother, and who left the red boots on the back steps?
At the hobo camp, the sheriff says, “Jimbo has friends in town.” Popo says, “I smell a rat,” and Boggy answers, “There’s never only one rat in the barn.” Which rats did you suspect at that point?
Anna finally breaks down in Popo’s arms on the night the boys come home, the first night she’s felt safe. Why does grief so often wait for safety?
Elijah Barner tells Sarah, “I never ask, Where’s God? I’m fully aware that He’s right here.” Anna can’t understand why Mother, so joyful in her garden, has “so little faith.” Is Anna right about her mother?

The cottage in Barner’s Woods

The open padlock, the coal bucket, the second mug, the new boots, and a slice of peach pie: Anna catches every detail the grown men miss. Why does the child see more?
“You didn’t ask him the most important question of all,” Anna tells the sheriff. “You didn’t ask him his real name.” Why does a name matter so much to her?
Sitting in Mother’s garden, Anna decides, “The stranger’s death was his, not mine.” Mother later warns, “What you think about grows.” Is it possible to choose what you carry?

Tee Tee — the letter and Aunt Lo’s return

Anna hears two words in Smitty’s letter, “perfect season,” and knows: “Edge of summer.” When did you first suspect Aunt Lo?
Aunt Lo says she loved Smitty, “but I loved the idea of loving him even more,” and would have sacrificed “nothing” for him. Is that honesty or self-protection?
Aunt Lo blames her one white lie for Smitty’s death. Boggy says, “Forgiving oneself… that’s the hardest thing of all.” Is she to blame?
On the courthouse steps, the sheriff names LoRetta Ghere to the whole town. Did he do right by her?

The poorhouse, the party, and Jimbo’s confession

At the potter’s field, Mackie pleads, “Please don’t think ill of him. He was a good man.” How did your view of Smitty change across the book?
Jimbo tells Smitty, “I believe you’re living my life, sir,” moments before he strikes. What do you make of the revival tent and “the Shining One” in his story?
The sheriff sweeps two stacks of cash into his drawer, says “No deal,” and lets Jimbo walk away with Adam Barner. How did you feel about Boggy by the last page?
Anna decides, “Better the burden of a secret than the burden of the ugly truth destroying their lives.” Earlier, Aunt Lo said secrets are too heavy for seven-year-olds. Who was right?
One word: “Fire.” Go back to the initials carved into the table behind the Blue and White, and to Popo’s story of the piano player’s daughter. How does this change the book?
Aunt Lo tells Anna, “It means God saved you for a reason.” Who do you think pulled Anna and Pauline out of the creek?

Going Deeper

On the epigraph. The novel opens with Hebrews 13:2: “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” Count the strangers: the man on the ice, the notions man, Smitty, Jimbo at Mrs. Parlett’s door. Which were angels, and which were not? Is the book testing the verse?

On two heirs. Titus Vandercook and Harrison Smith MacDonell were both sons of empires and both Culver men, and both ran from their fathers’ money. One became a hobo, the other Harry Smith. Adam Barner took the place Titus left at American Steel, and three of the four Barner boys left the farm. What does the book say about inheritance?

On clues in plain sight. “BB LOVES LO” carved into the old table. The smell of gasoline from a locked shed. The sheriff asking, “A cane?” and Jimbo flinching. Smoke from the abandoned cottage on a winter afternoon. Which clues did you catch the first time, and which only on a second look?

On Mother. Anna calls her stoic and says she has “so little faith.” Yet Mother knows what every flower in her garden means, keeps one secret of her own, and is, to her daughter, “the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen.” Who is Maggie Ghere?

On a child’s eye. Anna listens through air registers, reads faces, and notices boots. She understands what the grown-ups miss, and misses what only grown-ups would understand. What does a seven-year-old narrator let the book do?

Passages worth reading aloud. Aunt Lo on the edge of summer: “We stand in the breach.” Elijah Barner on the porch swing. Mrs. Parlett on the friend at her door: “Madam, I have never been better.” Bernard and Gem on Aunt Iris’s beauty sleep. The Legend of the Sparrow. Smitty’s letter to Tee Tee. The last page.

Bringing It to Your Gathering

On the table. Maggie’s honey-poached quince pie, the reason the town says she’s “deep in the quince.” Roxy’s sugar-cream pie, the one Popo would “kill for.” Dutch apple, Jimbo’s real favorite. Then serve two more side by side: strawberry-rhubarb with a hint of clover honey (the pie Jimbo claimed) and peach with homemade vanilla ice cream (the pie he actually ate). See who spots the lie. Also: biscuits with blackberry jam and gravy, chicken and dumplings, MaMaw’s chocolate birthday cake, Mrs. Parlett’s five-bean salad, fudge and lemonade, Blood Orange soda pop, jawbreakers, and Earl Grey in Mrs. Parlett’s honor. Pickled eggs, strictly as a dare.

Set the scene. Meet outdoors on a late summer evening if you can, with an old quilt on the grass, popcorn, cicadas, and lightning bugs in Mason jars. Gather cornflowers, black-eyed Susans and asters, or lily-of-the-valley in spring. A pair of red rubber boots by the door. If someone has one, pass around a Walking Liberty half-dollar.

Things to do together.

Gem’s diary. Gem writes everything down. Ask each person to bring the one detail they think was the real clue, and see how many different answers you get.
What the flowers mean. Cornflowers for hope, black-eyed Susans for justice, asters for faith and patience. Bring a flower and tell the group what it means to you.
Mrs. Parlett’s front walk. “We make memories with other people, not alone.” Name someone in your life who might be watching at the window, and plan one visit before the next meeting.
The breach. Go around the table and name a time you stood between what was and what would be.
Who pulled Annie out? Have everyone write down a guess, seal the guesses in an envelope, and open it after the next book in the series.

You’ll find the link to your free Book Club Guide below.

Edge-of-Summer-Book-Club-Guide Download

Download your free Book Club Guide here.