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Reading Group Guide

Discussion Questions

The Covenant

1. To what do you think the title of this book refers?

2. Leah, Maria, Ariana and Esther all survived Auschwitz. Did their experiences affect them all in the same way, or differently? Explain.

3. Compare the different behavior and coping mechanisms of the four friends in the camps and later in their lives. What characteristics helped each to survive? Did these traits help or hinder them when they returned to normal life?

4. Compare Elise Margulies and her grandmother Leah. In what ways are they similar, different?

5. Leah Rabinowitz experienced the horrors of Nazi Germany. Her granddaughter Elise experiences the horrors of modern day terrorism. How would you compare their experiences? In what ways were their enemies similar, different?

6. Compare how the following Muslim men are portrayed: Ismael Abadi, Musa el Khalil, and Whalid Ibn Saud. How does each view his religious obligations, family loyalties, and aspirations for the future?

7. Julia Greenberg views herself as “a journalist. An objective journalist.” Do you agree or disagree? Why?

8. In what ways are Julia's choices and problems particular to her, and in what ways are they true of all journalists, especially those covering the war between Israel and the Palestinians? How, in your opinion, does this affect the news we see and read?

9. The Covenant takes place in Israel. Could you see this story taking place in another geographic locale? How would it be the same? How would it be different?

10. If you were writing a sequel to this book, what would happen to Elise Margulies and her children? What would happen to Fatima and her children?

The Covenant
by Naomi Ragen

  • Publication Date: November 11, 2004
  • Genres: Fiction, Thriller
  • Hardcover: 288 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press
  • ISBN-10: 0312291191
  • ISBN-13: 9780312291198