Endless Chain – Reading Guide
For a printable guide, click here
- Reverend Sam Kinkade follows his conscience, even when that “still small voice” leads him places most people don’t want to go. Can you sympathize with Sam’s decisions even if you don’t necessarily agree with them?
- Elisa Martinez has reasons not to trust anyone. Can you imagine a life so secret that you can’t reveal even the simplest things about yourself, even when you are falling in love?
- Sam’s relationship with his fiancée Christine Fletcher is floundering. Sam wants to honor his commitment, but Sam and his future have changed while Christine has not. Did you admire or disagree with the way Sam handled this?
- The Shenandoah Community Church finds that its attempt to welcome Latinos to the community creates controversy in the congregation and town. What did you like about the church’s attempts to assist these new residents? What didn’t you like?
- Have you been part of an organization working toward social justice that reminds you of SCC’s commitment to the children at La Casa Amarilla? Has it been successful? Have some of the problems been the same?
- Elisa discovers the story of another woman “running” from danger, this time before the Civil War. Some historians believe that quilts were used on the Underground Railroad to tell escaping slaves that a house was a safe haven on the road to freedom. Does this seem plausible? Do you know other signs that were used along the way?
- Can you imagine yourself in the same situation as Sarah and Jeremiah Miller? Can you imagine braving the slave patrol?
- The women of the Shenandoah Community Church Wednesday Morning Quilting Bee and Social Gathering find friendship and acceptance as they quilt together in their “hive” each week. Women have always gathered in groups to work and play. What makes such a gathering special? What groups are important in your own life?
- Helen is a character in all the Shenandoah Album novels. If you have read Wedding Ring, do you find the changes she’s undergone believable? If you’ve read the later novels in the series, do you think she’s continuing to evolve?
- Quilts are more than a bed covering. Quilts are imbued with the choices of the quilt maker. Pattern, color, fabric, size, style, type and workmanship all go into making each quilt special and unique. Have you seen a quilt pattern, like Elisa’s endless chain quilt, that spoke to you the moment you glimpsed it? Do you have a quilt in your life made by someone special? If not a quilt, any handmade item that you treasure for more than its appearance, for the story it tells?
