Sister’s Choice – Reading Guide
For a printable guide, click here
- Would you consider bearing a child for your sister or another relative or close friend? What would be the biggest considerations for you in making the choice and how would you handle them?
- Have you, a family member or close friend ever suffered from cancer or another life-threatening illness? How did that change the way you look at life and how to live it?
- If you had to apply the title of this book, Sister’s Choice, to yourself, what story would it inspire you to tell?
- Is there a place that speaks to you the way the orchard and the Shenandoah Valley speak to the characters in this book? What makes that place so important to you emotionally?
- Why do you think Grace tells Jamie the story of her own marriage? Has anyone you loved told you a story about their past that’s helped you make decisions about yours?
- Jamie is a “gestational surrogate” for Kendra, which means that she is only the carrier. The twins are not genetically related to her—except that she is their aunt. Do you think the choice would have been harder to make if she had been asked to be a traditional surrogate? One in which she was pregnant with her own biological child?
- Jamie is hoping to prove her maturity and love for her sister when she volunteers to become Kendra and Isaac’s surrogate. Do you think she succeeds? Kendra has problems believing her sister has changed. Does Kendra’s own background and the neglect of their parents contribute to this?
- Even under the circumstances of this story, how hard would it be for you to give up a child you had carried for nine months?
- Jamie makes a difficult decision when she’s faced with a problem during the pregnancy. Could you empathize with her choices? Or did you want her to do something else?
- Kendra and Isaac are not willing to adopt because Isaac’s own adoption was such a bad experience. Do you think Kendra was willing to take a chance on Jamie becoming her surrogate simply because she wanted a child? Or did she have other reasons?
