The Wildwater Walking Club Reading Group Guide

1. Claire Cook walked 10,000 steps along with her characters while writing The Wildwater Walking Club. Did this novel inspire you to dust off your pedometer and get out there?

2. How does each of the three main characters—Noreen, Tess and Rosie—change during the course of the novel? What triggers these changes?

3. Noreen takes a buyout from Balancing Act partly because of Michael’s influence. Have you ever let a career decision be influenced by a man you were dating? Kind of dating?

4. If you were Rosie, would you have uprooted your family and moved them to the lavender farm to help your father? If not, which of your siblings might have stepped up?

5. Have you ever had to decide whether to tell a teenager’s mother you saw her/him sneaking out/smoking a cigarette/ etc.? Where do you think you should draw the line between doing the right thing and minding your own business?

6. What do you think the three women’s reaching out to Annalisa, who is essentially a stranger, says about them? About women in general?

7. Do you believe men like Michael-Don’t-Call-Me-Mike are essentially redeemable? Why or why not?

8. Balancing Act sneakers and slogans include: Dream Walker. (You’ll Swear You’re Walking on Clouds.) Step Litely. (Do These Sneakers Make Me Look Thin?) Feng Shuoe. (New Sneakers for a New Age.) If you were creating your dream sneaker, what would you name it and what would its slogan be?

9. Do think clotheslines should be outlawed or encouraged? Why?

10. If The Wildwater Walking Club is made into a movie, who would you want to play Noreen? Noreen’s mother? Tess? Hannah? Rosie? Rosie’s father? Michael? Rick? Brock? Sherry?

11. Which parts of the novel made you laugh? Cry?

12. Which character in The Wildwater Walking Club is most like you? Which one would you most like to hang around with?

13. If they were real and you were dating, would you be more apt to date Michael or Rick? Tell the truth.

Published by Voice, ©2009