1. Brasfield explores the overlap between the nature of mother-daughter love, obligation, and abuse. In what ways do these relationships both intersect and collide?

2. Kate's life is uprooted at the age of eleven. How might this age be important for such a dramatic turn of events?

3. Many important caregivers seem to abandon Kate at a critical time in her life. Who leaves, who is left behind, and who remains? Discuss the issue of abandonment in Kate's life and how it impacts her adult relationships.

4. Building on the topic of Kate's adult relationships, Patrick Osch makes the comment that it is Kate who leaves men behind. Discuss the truth of this statement.

5. Brasfield examines the nature of guilt and responsibility. How do Kate's feelings about her mother relate to her feelings of guilt and responsibility for her white racial background?

6. How do the transformations in Kate and Violet's physical appearances parallel their emotional changes?

7. How do Violet's relationships with Kate's father and Winston impact both her independence and growing paranoia?

8. Kate is surprised to learn that her mother may have been correct in her assessment of Oom Piet. What do you think really happened between Oom Piet, Kate's father, and Winston?

9. Nature Lessons is principally a bildungsroman, or coming of age novel. What are the most significant lessons Kate learns about the human condition?

10. Kate's relationship with Simon seems an imperfect relationship at best. What might the future hold for her in such a relationship?

11. Animals are a driving symbol in Nature Lessons. How do they function in terms of Kate's character development?

12. Discuss how the stars and the moon serve as powerful metaphors for perception and renewal in Kate's life.

13. In the end, Kate contemplates her "younger self." How do Kate's childhood voice and adult voice merge at the end of the novel? Why do you think the author structured the novel this way?

14. How has this novel impacted your understanding of Apartheid and Post-apartheid South Africa?

Reader's Guide created by Jennifer Tedford