A Flickering Light (47 page)

Authors: Jane Kirkpatrick

Tags: #Fiction, #Christian, #Historical, #Biographical

BOOK: A Flickering Light

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Jane Kirkpatrick

Reader groups may request a phone visit with Jane through her Web site,
www.jkbooks.com
, or by contacting her at 99997 Starvation Lane, Moro, OR 97039.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

At prearranged times, the author makes herself available by speakerphone to answer questions and participate in book group gatherings. She’s done this from the Netherlands to Nebraska, from Florida to the Pacific Northwest. Arrangements can be made through her Web site at
www.jkbooks.com
. The use of this guide is not a prerequisite for such phone gatherings.

In the author’s own notes prior to writing this story, she described her attitude toward
A Flickering Light
this way: “This is a story about integrity, wholeness, the blend of soul and role in order to fulfill God’s promise in our lives.” Did she accomplish that goal? Why or why not?
What did Jessie Ann Gaebele think she wanted? What got in her way of achieving that? Or did she achieve her goal? What role did her being a woman in a man’s profession play in the arc of her story?
What does Emily Dickinson’s poetic line “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant” have to say about this novel? How do the lines “The Truth must dazzle gradually / Or every man be blind—” apply?
How did a sense of unworthiness affect Jessie’s decision making? What role did grief play? How did her sense of self affect the outcome of this story?
Who in this story deceived themselves the most: FJ? Mrs. Bauer? Jessie? What truths did they have to tell themselves in order to change the paths they were on? Did they? Why or why not?
Do you know gifted people who appear to sabotage or squander their talents? What kinds of actions by others can bring them back, or must one make such a journey alone?
Have you ever acted in ways that were contrary to your own self-interest? What might have motivated you? What lessons did you learn from that experience?
People engaged in clandestine activities often justify their thinking. A common thread of thought is,
No one else is being injured by my actions
. In this story, who was adversely affected? Is there anything these people could have done to change their own destinies?
How can we offer compassion to people we love who make poor choices, without preventing them from discovering their own truths? Has there been a time in your life when someone spoke the truth with less dazzle so you could see it?
What role did artistry play in the lives of these characters? For whom did a particular art form (such as music, textile creation, and photography) provide direction? How?
What do you think of the definitions of faith, hope, and love offered by Edward Everett Hale at the beginning of this novel? Did the characters portrayed act in ways that demonstrated those “three eternities”?
While most of the story was told in third person, through the eyes of Jessie, FJ, and Mrs. Bauer, what role did the first-person accounts and photographs play in your experience of this story? Did their presence distract, or did you look forward to what the next photograph would reveal about Jessie’s life?
A Flickering Light
is based on the story of the author’s own grandmother. Does that knowledge in any way shape your reading of the book differently than a novel that is formed of fully imagined characters? Were you aware of this prior to reading
A Flickering Light?
Does the timing of that awareness change your perspective on this story?

Books by Jane Kirkpatrick

N
OVELS

Change and Cherish Historical Series
A Clearing in the Wild
A Tendering in the Storm
A Mending at the Edge

A Land of Sheltered Promise

Tender Ties Historical Series
A Name of Her Own
Every Fixed Star
Hold Tight the Thread

Kinship and Courage Historical Series
All Together in One Place
No Eye Can See
What Once We Loved

Dreamcatcher Collection
A Sweetness to the Soul
(winner of the Western Heritage Wrangler Award for
Outstanding Western Novel and Literary Oregon 100, Best Books
about Oregon published in the past two hundred years)
Love to Water My Soul
A Gathering of Finches
Mystic Sweet Communion

N
ONFICTION

Aurora: An American Experience in Quilt and Craft
Homestead: A Memoir of Modern Pioneers Pursuing the
Edge of Possibility
A Simple Gift of Comfort
(formerly
A Burden Shared
)

A F
LICKERING
L
IGHT
P
UBLISHED BY
W
ATER
B
ROOK
P
RESS
12265 Oracle Boulevard, Suite 200
Colorado Springs, Colorado 80921

Scripture quotations or paraphrases are taken from the following versions: King James Version and the Holy Bible, New International Version®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved.

This book is a work of historical fiction based closely on real people and real events. Details that cannot be historically verified are purely products of the authors imagination.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by WaterBrook Multnomah, an imprint of The Doubleday Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York.

W
ATER
B
ROOK
and its deer colophon are registered trademarks of Random
House Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kirkpatrick, Jane, 1946–
   A flickering light / Jane Kirkpatrick.
       p. cm. — (Portrait of a woman series)
   eISBN: 978-0-307-45929-9
1. Women photographers—Fiction. I. Title.
   PS3561.I712F55 2009
   813′.54—dc22

2008047066

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