Introduction

An unforgettable novel that captures the power of longing, loss, and love, The Time Keepers transports us from 1979 suburban New York to war-torn Vietnam, revealing that sometimes the most unexpected friendships can save us.

Two women from different worlds, Grace and Anh, are indelibly changed when a runaway boy is found on a street in their small Long Island town. Brought together by the love of this child displaced by war, the women find friendship and healing from their own painful pasts when their lives intersect with a mysterious wounded Vietnam vet. The vet, Jack, works at the Golden Hours, a watch store that mends timepieces—and might even mend damaged souls.

Richman interweaves the journeys of these wonderfully diverse characters who will grip, fill, and break your heart—only to bring them together with the care and precision of an expert watchmaker, one piece at a time. Inspired by the true story of a Vietnamese refugee who entrusted the dramatic account of her escape from Vietnam to the author, and also that of a wounded veteran, Richman sheds light on those whose lives were forever impacted by the devastation of that war.

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Excerpt

PROLOGUE
Vietnam, 1978

They have been waiting all night by the river, the dark water smooth as glass. They carry nothing but a bundle filled with food and canteens of fresh water all tied in a square piece of cloth. A single tin pot. A sack of lemons and a box of sugar. ... view entire excerpt...

Discussion Questions

From the publisher:

1. Grace and Tom Golden are not the typical married couple in Bellegrove. How do their backgrounds, with differing faiths, cultures, and citizenship, influence their own attitudes toward their new friendships with Jack, Anh, and Bao? Discuss the themes of outsidership versus insidership within a small, insular community. What connects the characters of The Time Keepers to their neighbors, and what separates them?

2. Jack, Bao, and Tom all have visible physical scars or injuries that make it impossible for them to hide their previous traumas, while the wounds from Anh’s and Grace’s painful pasts are not apparent to the naked eye. Do you think the visibility of scars affects certain characters’ experiences, compared to those whose signs of trauma are internal or hidden?

3. The Golden Hours store is—in some ways—the beating heart of the novel. The store was originally founded by Tom’s father, Harry Golden. How do Harry’s wartime experiences, horological education, and meditations on time contribute to his own healing as well as to the healing of those who later work at the store? While Harry and Jack only meet once in the novel, what did you take away from their shared experience?

4. At the end of the novel, Grace describes time as “not always following a linear path,” noting that “for some people, time radiated from a single epicenter, a point in time, where everything began and eventually returned.” Discuss how Jack’s enduring love for Becky defies the concept of time and how, despite its tribulations and setbacks, it remains a force that sustains him through his darkest moments.

5. Stanley Coates is one of the first people Jack meets when he arrives in Vietnam. He is described as being so innocent that he has never even drunk a bottle of beer. How is Stanley’s purity and lack of worldly experience viewed by his fellow platoon members? How does his death inspire—and change—them?

6. Maternal love is an important theme that resonates throughout The Time Keepers. Discuss how loss is entwined in both Anh’s and Grace’s respective maternal experiences, and how they find healing, purpose, and connection as they navigate the challenges of motherhood. Consider the impact of the maternal role played by women who are not the actual mothers of the characters they are tending to. How does Anh transform as she takes on the role of Bao’s new guardian? How does Grace, already a mother to two girls, grow when Anh and Bao come into her life?

7. Sensory memories have long been considered one of the most powerful tools that can connect us to our past. Jack finds himself traveling back in time when he hears a certain song on the radio, just as Bao remembers his mother’s love when he inhales the scent of mangoes. How do certain tastes, fragrances, or melodies tether us to our loved ones, both past and present? What are things in your own life that help you remember certain people and places?

8. In the author’s note, Richman mentions how she shifted between past and present in the novel in order to evoke how we process memory. Discuss how the passages that were written in present tense in the novel affected how you felt as you walked in the footsteps of the characters Jack, Bao, and Anh.

9. The author shifts perspectives on how the Vietnam War is experienced by the various characters—not only by a soldier and refugee, but also by family members who have lost a loved one. How did the shifting lenses of Jack, Bao, Anh, and even Adele change your perspective on how you think about this devastating war?

10. Buddy and Clayton represent a dark force in the community of Bellegrove. Discuss how their home environments might have impacted their development. Do you feel Buddy and Clayton were equally evil, or was one of them more malevolent than the other?

11. The Time Keepers explores how unexpected friendships can often have the power to heal us. There are many different friendships that arise in this novel: Anh and Grace, Bao and Molly, Jack and Tom, Jack and Bao, and even Jack and Hendrix. How do these positive friendships help each character overcome their previous traumas? What connects each of these characters, and what do they learn from their newly formed bonds?

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