1. Geraldine is continually thrusting herself into the company of people whose experiences and backgrounds are vastly different from her own: a rhythm and blues band, a Harlem-based music foundation, and a society of elderly European refugees. Why do you think she pursues these acquaintances? What does she learn from her friendships with these people?

2. Gertje Regenstein, one of Geraldine's German employers at the Hansonia Society, believes that "to be an American was to be blessed with a kind of idiotic but very useful innocence." Do you agree with this statement? How is innocence useful? And how does this statement apply to the way Geraldine has lived her life so far? In what ways is she idiotic or innocent?

3. Geraldine revels in her life as a back-up singer for a rhythm-and-blues group, but is hesitant, years later, to sing or dance in public. Why do you think she refuses to show off her obvious talents? And why, ultimately, does she decide that she will sing -- at her friend's funeral, at home with her son and husband, and at Franklin's school? What do singing, swimming, and learning Hebrew -- all activities that Geraldine embarks on toward the end of the novel -- have in common?

4. By the end of the novel, Geraldine has established a settled life: a marriage, a child, a job. As a young woman, she likely would have scoffed at this kind of life. How does Geraldine make her life her own? What challenges still lie ahead for her? As a group, discuss how each of you has made life choices-good or bad-that reflect who you are.

5. The novel's epigraph reads: "Americans leave without saying goodbye/Refugees say goodbye without leaving." What do you think this means? Is Geraldine a refugee or an American? What does the epigraph have to do with the novel?