Introduction

Lenny Marks is excellent at not having a life.

She bikes home from work at exactly 4pm each day, buys the same groceries for the same meals every week, and owns thirty-six copies of The Hobbit (currently arranged by height). The closest thing she has to a friendship is playing Scrabble against an imaginary Monica Gellar while watching Friends reruns.

And Lenny Marks is very, very good at not remembering what happened the day her mother and stepfather disappeared when she was still a child. The day a voice in the back of her mind started whispering, You did this.

Until a letter from the parole board arrives in the mail--and when her desperate attempts to ignore it fail, Lenny starts to unravel. As long-buried memories come to the surface, Lenny’s careful routines fall apart. For the first time, she finds herself forced to connect with the community around her, and unexpected new relationships begin to bloom. Lenny Marks may finally get a life–but what if her past catches up to her first?

Equal parts heartbreaking and heartwarming, Kerryn Mayne’s stunning debut is an irresistible novel about truth, secrets, vengeance, and family lost and found, with a heroine who's simply unforgettable.

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Discussion Questions

From the publisher:

1. Lenny Marks’s life is structured and simple. She has her routine and likes to stick to it.
Slowly, she begins to socialize with the other teachers at her school and eventually the
son of the owners of her local grocery store. How does Lenny’s new social life affect her
routine?

2. Lenny struggles with maintaining friendships with the other teachers at her school. The
scene at trivia night was a turning point for Lenny’s social relationships with her
colleagues. How did Lenny’s choices that night impact her friendship (or lack thereof)
with the other teachers?

3. We open with Lenny receiving the letter from the parole board. Throughout the book, we
find small details about Lenny’s past until eventually, the truth comes out. Did you
anticipate the extreme details from Lenny’s past? Explain.

4. The story is told in close third person narration. What was it like listening to Lenny’s
thoughts so close? What was it like uncovering details to Lenny’s past in her own
thoughts?

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