Introduction

"In The Taste of Air, Cleare deftly explores the consequence of our choices, even those made with the best of intentions. A family saga bridging decades and filled with shocking revelations, hope and love, you won't be able put this book down."
~Kate Moretti, author of NYT Bestseller Thought I Knew You

A simple phone call disrupts Nell Williams's well-ordered life. Her mother, Mary, is in a hospital in Vermont. But her mother is supposed to be safely tucked away in an assisted-living facility in Massachusetts, so Nell can't fathom why she would be so far from home. After notifying her sister, Bridget, Nell hops on a plane and rushes to her mother's side. There, she discovers that her mother has been living a second life. Mary has another home and a set of complex relationships with people her daughters have never met. When Nell and Bridget delve deeper into their mother's lakeside hideaway, they uncover a vault of family secrets and the gateway to change for all three women.

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Discussion Questions

Have you ever wished for a secret, private place where you could escape your real life for a little while, with no repercussions? When and why?

Nell is stunned to find out her mother has kept such a big secret from her daughters, for all these years. How would you feel?

Does your family have any amazing secrets that came to light only after the people involved had passed away? Did the revelations change anything significant?

When Mary was an Army nurse in Vietnam in the 1960s, she mentioned that the single women had no sanctioned access to contraception while most male soldiers were given condoms. Why was that considered a good policy? Have things changed since then?

In Saigon during the war, Mary heard rumors that lots of her co-workers were having clandestine affairs. She said it was because while surrounded by horror and death, it was an effective way to assert that you were still alive. Have you ever been in a situation like this?

Both Nell and Bridget go through major emotional changes while living in Mary’s cottage in Hartland. How would you predict their lives will develop from here on, into the future?

Sometimes a family can be made up of the most unlikely people. How does Mary’s secret change her family, and how do Nell and Bridget’s discoveries redefine the family’s future?

Thomas’s decline into dementia is only one of the difficult symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. Was Mary’s way of coping with the stress of her caretaking duties inexcusable, or understandable?

In Hartland, people seem to understand what’s most important. “Life is short. Be happy. That was it, the nutshell version.” Do you agree?

Weblinks

»	USA Today Bestseller
»	Author's web site
»	Indie View Book Review
»	Author Article for Books by Women
»	Interview with Today's Author
»	Publisher's Book Info

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