Welcome to the third day of our book club read-along for OwlCrate's August book, A Lesson in Vengeance!
Just a reminder that this will be a SPOILER discussion for Chapters 10-13 of A Lesson in Vengeance, so make sure you read are finished this section before continuing.
Discussion questions are listed below, and anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate box!
The story goes on...
Chapter 10:
Ellis read about the drowning in the newspaper and the memories come flooding back to Felicity. She’s right. Alex drowned in the lake the night of the end of semester party at Boylen House. They both had been drinking and Felicity had left the party to get away from Alex as they had been fighting, but Alex followed her and ended up falling off the cliff and into the lake. Felicity tried to go after her but her body was never found, that night or after. Felicity had made up and started believing the climbing story and the cut rope as a way of managing her grief when she was in the hospital. It is also revealed that Alex was kicked off her Youth Olympics team for attacking another person on the team. She had a temper.
That night Felicity wakes with a scream and after turning on her lights sees a perfect handprint in the condensation on her window. The fright makes her nauseated and ill and the next morning she retreats to the main library to read and escape Godwin. In the afternoon Ellis finds her and brings her back to the house. Ellis makes her tea and after they smoke Ellis wants to read Felicity’s tea leaves as part of her method writing. At 3 a potted plant falls from the fireplace mantle and Felicity finally reveals to Ellis that she thinks Alex is haunting her. Ellis tells Felicity her new plan to recreate the deaths of the Dalloway Five for her writing, planning out each step but the very last, and she wants Felicity’s help. She wants to prove that no magic was involved in the deaths and in doing so help Felicity face what may be reality.
Chapter 11:
Previously Felicity had permission to enter the occult room of the library, but that permission has now been revoked. Taking matters into her own hands she waits at the library until it closes for the evening, leaving her alone in the dark with her flashlight. In the room, she takes out the second volume of the Dalloway history and makes notes on the trial of Flora’s murder for Ellis. Before leaving the room Felicity decides to also copy a spell from an old tome to banish evil spirits. Just in case. The next page reveals an illustration of an initiation, one that Alex and Felicity also went through when they joined the Margery Coven. This gives Felicity an idea, and she retrieves the masks that were used in the initiation decides that if Ellis wants to understand the Dalloway witches, she must become one of them first.
Chapter 12:
Ellis loves the idea, but instead of joining the Margery coven, which feels safe and playful rather than like real magic, Ellis wants them to create their own. Sliding notes under doors, she invites each member of Godwin House to attend an initiation, determined to prove magic isn’t real and to use the event as a plot point in her novel. Felicity is scared that perhaps Margery and Alex have been waiting for her to touch magic again. To come to them.
All of the girls from Godwin House show up in the woods and agree to be part of this new coven, called the Night Migrations. Felicity performs the initiation.
Chapter 13:
Ellis appears at Felicity’s door and gifts her a beautiful new deck of tarot cards. She revisits wanting to recreate the killings, murders, of four of the Dalloway witches, not including the death her narrator, Margery Lemont.
Questions:
- Do you think Leonie is part of the Margery Coven? Do you think this will have implications for the new Night Migrations group?
- As Alex's body has never been found, do you think she is actually dead?
- Do you think Ellis' desire to recreate the deaths is solely for her writing, or do you think she secretly has a different motivation? Why do you think she's so determined to prove to Felicity that magic isn't real?
- Do you think Alex's temper had something to do with her disappearance? What do you think Alex and Felicity had been fighting about that night?
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