1. What do you think is the significance of the title EVERY LAST LIE?

2. After Clara learns of Nick’s death, she is unable to bring herself to tell Maisie that he has died. Do you believe she’s in denial of his death, or is she trying to protect Maisie? How might you have responded in a similar situation?

3. Motherhood is a theme in the novel, both Clara as a mother to Maisie and Felix, as well as Clara’s relationship to her own mother, Louisa. Many of these relationships are strained. How might Clara’s relationship with Louisa (as well as the effects of Louisa’s dementia on their relationship), influence the type of mother Clara has become?

4. Clara is overwhelmed by grief, caring for her children, the needs of her aging parents; she’s also unable to sleep. What impact does this have on her mind in the days after Nick has died? Do these elements play a role in her desperate need to assign blame for Nick’s death?

5. The stages of grief are often noted as denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. In what ways does Clara go through each of these in EVERY LAST LIE?

6. Who are the villains in the novel? Which do you feel contributed to Nick’s death, either directly or indirectly?

7. Nick digs himself into a hole through his omissions and, instead of admitting to Clara what he has done, he only digs deeper. How do you think Clara would have responded had he been honest with her from the outset? Is there a point in which Nick’s omissions are no longer forgivable? If you were in Clara’s shoes, would you have forgiven Nick for these?

8. At the end of the novel, Clara has accepted Nick’s death. How do you envision her life and her relationships with her children and her parents in the years to come?