1) What is the true nature of the marriage depicted in The Danish Girl? What does this story say about love and intimacy?

2) Both Lili and Greta must change, for the sake of their marriage and for themselves. Discuss each woman’s evolution.

3) What role does Greta play in Lili’s transition? What motivated her to help Lili?

4) What role does the city of Copenhagen play in influencing the lives of its characters?

5) Greta loves the people in her life in different ways. How does her expressions of love change over the course of the novel.

6) When Henrik says to Lili “I already know. Don’t worry about anything but I already know” (page 60), what does he mean? Why does Lili tell Henrik she can’t see him anymore?

7) What does art and painting symbolize for Greta and Lili?

8) Why doesn’t Lili tell Greta about seeing Henrik again?

9) Why does Lili put so much faith in her final operation? What does it mean to her?

10) Discuss how Lili views her former life? What has she said good-bye to? What will she always carry with her?

11) Lili is a pioneer in the movement for civil rights for trans men and women. Discuss how much and how little has changed since her time. Do you believe she is a hero?

1. The novel has two narratives, that of Cherry and Blackwood and the larger story of Linda and Bruder. What effect does this have on how the story is told? How does the author use this narrative strategy to reveal information about his characters and their fates?

2. Many critics have suggested that place—California—is as much a character in Pasadena as the people in the story. Do you agree with this? In one interview David Ebershoff commented, “I wanted my characters’ internal landscapes to echo or contradict the external landscapes of California.” How does the changing landscape of Southern California reflect the characters and their lives?

3. Linda is a character in perpetual transformation: she is born Sieglinde, has her name changed to Linda, and takes on the name Lindy after she marries. Why is she always seeking change? How does this affect her ability to know herself? Who else in the novel reinvents himself or herself? Why do you think so many characters in Pasadena have abandoned their pasts? Is this common to the American experience? To that of California?

4. Why do you think Linda and Bruder have difficulty loving each other? What is it about their characters and the circumstances of their relationship that thwarts their affection? Bruder is described as resigned to fate, Linda as convinced of her own free will. How does this affect the outcome of their romance, and their lives?

5. Consider the relationship between Linda and Valencia. How are they different, how similar? Do you think that Linda’s relationship with her mother is more important to her than her relationshipe with her father? Why (or why not)? What do you think in Valencia’s childhood in Mexico impresses Linda the most? What about in Dieter’s experience in Germany and as an immigrant?

6. Linda and Charlotte Moss begin life in similar circumstances. Why do you think their lives diverge so drastically? Who do you think compromises the most? Why?

7. What do you make of the world of Pasadena and the Poores? Are you surprised that it attracts Linda? What do you think spellbinds her the most? Why do you think she makes the choices she does?

8. In his World War I adventures in France, Bruder spares a man’s life. Are his actions heroic or selfish? Why do you think he insists on keeping his secrets? Whom do you think he is keeping them from?

9. Throughout the novel the author uses epigraphs from the poetry of Emily Brontë. Why do you think the author quotes Brontë? The Wall Street Journal described the novel as “East of Eden meets Wuthering Heights.” What other novels do you find echoed in Pasadena?

10. By the end of the novel many characters are living with the choices they made long ago. What do you think the novel says about regret and redemption? About knowing and accepting the consequences of one’s life? How are the fates of Blackwood and Cherry different than those of Bruder and Linda? How are their fates knotted together? What does Pasadena say about fate?

1. Each story is about someone who doesn’t fit into his world. What are the connections between the stories? What themes do they share? How does the author use tone and style to link his characters and their worlds?

2. Discuss how each character is searching for a certain kind of love. Which characters are most likely to find it?

3. The characters range from a ten-year-old boy (“The Dress”) to a forty-eight-year-old self-deceiver (“The Rose City”). Which characters do you like the most? Whom do you find saddest?

4. “Chuck Paa” is about a young man desperate for acceptance. Do you think he will ever find it? Why or why not? What about the characters in the other stories? Are any of them on the verge of happiness?

5. In “The Rose City” Roland is obsessed with his appearance and the hunt for a husband. Is he a believable character? Do you know anyone like Roland Dott? Do you see a connection between him and any of the young boys in the other stories?

6. What role does California play in each character’s mind? Is California a place of promise in these stories?

7. “Regime” is about a boy who is starving himself. Why does he stop eating? What will make him return to nourishment?

8. What role does sex play in these stories? Is sex a happy event in the characters’ lives?

1. The first part of the novel, “Two Wives,” contains prefaces to two very different books. What did you think when you started reading The 19th Wife? Which story interested you the most?

2. Ann Eliza Young says, “Faith is a mystery.” How does Ebershoff play with this metaphor? What are the mysteries in The 19th Wife? What does the novel say about faith?

3. What are your impressions of Ann Eliza Young, and how do those impressions change over the course of the novel? Do you trust her as a narrator?

4. Brigham Young was one of the most dynamic and complex figures in nineteenth-century America. How does the novel portray him? Do you come to understand his deep convictions? In the story of his marriage to Ann Eliza, he essentially gets the last word. Why?

5. What kind of man is Chauncey Webb? And Gilbert? What do they tell you about polygamy? And about faith?

6. Jordan is an unlikely detective. What makes him a good sleuth? What are his blind spots?

7. Many of the people who help Jordan—Mr. Heber, Maureen, Kelly, and Tom—are Mormons. What do you think Ebershoff is saying by this?

8. Like many mysteries, Jordan’s story is a quest. What is he searching for?

9. Why do you think Ebershoff wrote the novel with so many voices? How do the voices play off one another? Who is your favorite narrator? And your least favorite?

10. Why do you think Ebershoff wrote a fictional memoir by Ann Eliza Young, and why are some chapters missing? As he says in his Author’s Note, the real Ann Eliza Young actually wrote two memoirs: Wife No. 19, first published in 1875, and Life in Mormon Bondage, which came out in 1908. Based on your reading of The 19th Wife, what kind of memoirist do you think the real Ann Eliza Young was?

11. One reviewer has said The 19th Wife is “that rare book that effortlessly explicates and entertains all at once.” Do you agree? How does the novel manage this balance?

12. Were you surprised by how the stories of Ann Eliza and Jordan come together? At what point were you able to see the connection?

13. Does Jordan’s story end as you hoped it would? Does it end as Jordan hoped it would?