1. Why is the book’s title significant? What “whispers” does Lucy seem to hear throughout the DeLaurier House?

2. What emotions are going through Lucy’s mind as she stands at her husband’s grave at the beginning of Chapter 1?

3. An important moment occurs during that event which is to change Lucy’s life. What is it?

4. How does Lucy’s character contrast with her sister Agnes?

5. What is Lucy’s attitude toward her brother-in-law, Philip Dubois? His toward her?

6. Of the six main women characters in the story --- Lucy, Mary, Agnes, Maggie, Jane, and Patsy --- which one is your favorite and why?

7. What’s wrong with Mattias? What prevents him from declaring his feelings toward Lucy? Hers toward him?

8. If you read the first novel, The Long Journey Home, did your feelings about its main character, Henry Morton, change after reading Whispers? How about Agnes?

9. Describe the reverse parallel between Agnes’ story and that of her foster daughter, Jane Creighton Morton.

10. What is the critical event that determines Lucy to leave Little Sauk?

11. Do you think the author deliberately causes you to dislike several characters, for example, Homer West or Rachael Olsen?

12. Families are an important theme in this novel. Think of several examples in which family love and unity are essential, or in which lack of it causes them to break apart.

13. Life in the 1870s was harsh and challenging, yet there are moments of humor in this story, especially with regard to children. Describe one or two.

14. We often delve deeply into Lucy’s mind. She creates several symbols to shape her thoughts, one of them being the Egyptian pyramids. What others can you think of?

15. Is Lucy’s final decision regarding her future unusual career realistic? What might it involve?