For book clubs

Reading group guide

These questions cover the premise and the first part of the novel, so your group can use them before everyone has finished. No spoilers.

1. The novel opens with Rebecca taking off her cross before she gets into the truck. What does that first image tell you about her, and about the book's promise?
2. Rebecca never raises her voice. How does the novel make gentleness feel threatening?
3. The church, the shelter, the family lunches on Tradd Street: how does a whole community become part of protecting one woman's reputation?
4. Thomas is a former womanizer trying to be a better man. Does his past make him more or less believable, to you and to the people around him?
5. Thomas's residency depends on his wife. How does that dependence shape what he can and cannot say?
6. “Respect me, Thomas.” “I keep my promises.” Choose one of Rebecca's lines and discuss how it can be read two ways.
7. The midnight phone calls, the dating profile, the red light on the windshield: at what moment did you start doubting her, or doubting him?
8. Midnight Bread reaches a million listeners. What does the podcast give Rebecca that a pulpit does not?
9. The epigraph is 2 Corinthians 11:14. How does the book separate sincere faith from faith used as a costume?
10. Men are rarely believed when they say they are being manipulated. How does the novel handle that, and did it change how you see it?
11. Four powerful men, four sums of money, four small crosses. If you found the red notebook, what would you do?

Talking about the book with others? Join The Red Notebook book club.