1. Sisters have complex relationships. Cleo and Josie's relationship was even more complicated than most. What is your experience as a sister? Do you believe jealousy and rivalry between siblings close in age is inevitable? What about forgiveness? Could you forgive a sister who had hurt you the way Cleo and Josie hurt each other?
   

2. Always and Forever is told from several points of view. Sometimes we are in Bertrand's head, or Remy's, Cleo's or Phanor's, though mostly we see the world through Josie's eyes. Which point of view did you like the best? Why do you think you preferred that character's mind?
   

3. Place is an important part of this novel. Have you experienced the sub-tropics where New Orleans sits? The humidity and heat, the particular animals and bugs and flowers? What other places do you find as intense as that setting? Has anyone in your group been to an exotic locale with equally intense climate and terrain?
   

4. The time of Always and Forever is the 1830s. Obviously our lives today are safer and more secure in terms of health care and education and housing and sanitation. How else would you compare our times and the 1830s? If you could take a case of antibiotics and deodorant back with you, would you like to live in that time? What appeals to you about that era?
   

5. Men and women fell in love and fought and disappointed each other in the 1830s then just as now. But they had different conventions and rules than we do. Which era do you think makes it easier for men and women to be happy with each other? Which era do you think emphasizes the best aspects and provides the best chance of romantic love?
   

6. Slavery is an intensely emotional topic, and the main characters of Always and Forever are slaves and owners. How do you evaluate the portrayal of those roles in this novel? Are the situations realistic, sugar-coated, overly cruel? What scenes from the book did you find got it right?
   

7. In historical novels, balancing modern sensibilities against a realistic account of the times is often a problem. One reader faulted Always and Forever for having a heroine who is content to be a slave-owner. Surely, he argues, it isn't enough to be a good master if the character in effect condones slavery as an institution. What are your thoughts on the writer's obligation in this respect? Is slavery so manifestly repugnant and wrong-headed that it can be assumed we all repudiate it? Or are the scars still too painful to write an account of slavery without its outright condemnation? Where do you think fiction and political posture should meet, if ever?

If you'd care to share your discussion with the author, you may be able to arrange a visit or a phone conference with your group. In any event, she'd love to hear your thoughts. You can write to Gretchen at webmail@gretchencraig.com.