The Dog That Whispered (29 page)

1. All of the main characters are dealing with the effects of either long-hidden secrets or long-term unexpressed guilt. Which one do you think is more detrimental to emotional well-being?
   
2. Wilson finds it important to keep everything in his house exactly the way it was when he was growing up. What do you think is his motivation behind this? Is he driven by a desire to live in a simpler, less-complicated time, perhaps?
   
3. Wilson is not noted for being jovial and welcoming or even friendly. Do you think that all of his social shortcomings could be blamed on his Vietnam War experience? Or do you think some of these traits can simply trace back to the way Wilson is wired emotionally?
   
4. Wilson has suffered a lifetime of inner turmoil for things he did while serving in the war in Vietnam. Do you think his guilt is justified—or should he be able to defend his actions as “just following orders and doing what a soldier has to do”? Do you think that Wilson's guilt got easier or more difficult to deal with as he grew older?
   
5. Thurman, the dog, somehow enables Wilson to give voice to the pain he has hidden for so many years. Why do you think Thurman is able to do that—to be the catalyst for Wilson's eventual truth-telling and coming to grips with his guilt? Why a dog rather than a pastor or a close friend?
   
6. Wilson sought out the help of a trained psychiatrist—who apparently is not a believer. Was that a wise choice on his part? Should he have only sought council from spiritual, theologically trained counselors?
   
7. If Thurman was helping Wilson see the error of keeping secrets and the inner corrosion that guilt causes his soul, and if Wilson was actually the one interpreting Thurman's growls as words and advice and admonition—why couldn't or why didn't Wilson achieve that awareness on his own?
   
8. God can use anything He chooses to bring an awareness of Himself to people. Do you think He would deliberately use a dog like Thurman to open a man's eyes? Do you think that Wilson could only have found faith through such an unconventional method?
   
9. Emily was a believer when she met Wilson, and she knew that he was not. Would you have encouraged Emily to agree to date Wilson—or would you have mentioned the Scriptural caution against being “unequally yoked”?
   
10. Do you think that Hazel's mother was responsible for Hazel's “small, uninspired” life and existence?
    
11. Do you think Hazel would have ever made her trip of discovery if it had not been for her mother's secret inheritance? Do you think that without the money, Hazel would have stayed where she was, remained at her job, never to find the truth about her past?
    
12. Wilson knew he had a child, yet did not want to admit it, even when Hazel appeared at his front door. Why do you think he was so reluctant to admit the truth?
    
13. Do you think that Hazel, after finding the truth out about her father and mother, will be able to move on to become spiritually healthy? Or will her past continue to haunt her?
    
14. Do you think that anyone who has faced combat and the horrors of modern-day warfare can remain unaffected? Was it reasonable for Wilson to have concealed the truth—especially since he returned to an America that was, at the time, largely unsympathetic to war veterans?
    
15. We sometimes tend to label people as antisocial or simply mean—when there may be pressures and tensions in their lives that we know nothing about. Has this book changed the way you view “prickly” people that you know?
    

The Dog That Saved Stewart Coolidge

 

When a stray dog helps himself to a bone from a display in the supermarket, he has no idea that his actions will ignite a romance between two humans. Working at the store, Stewart Coolidge is instructed by his determined boss to catch the thieving animal immediately. Stewart's cute neighbor, Lisa, is an aspiring journalist who is delighted to write the story for the local paper. When the dog starts showing up on the doorstep of their building, Stewart and Lisa grow closer through harboring the furry fugitive. She mistakenly believes Stewart is a Christian, like her, and invites him to go to church. Smitten, Stewart decides to play along. Meanwhile, the wanted dog, who has a divine sense of how things should be, recognizes how much Stewart needs Lisa, and decides to do all he can to bring them together.

Available now in print and electronic formats from FaithWords wherever books are sold.

  

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