1. Is the magic of Wild Hill in the land, or in the women? How are the Duncans’ lives changed when they move away? If they can practice their magic elsewhere, why does the Old One call them back to Wild Hill?

2. From Angus and Charles Campbell to Henry Jansson, Wild Hill often proves fatal to men. Which men seem to fare better, and why? Are there “good men” in the world of Wild Hill?

3. Brigid and Phoebe’s storyline takes place in the near future. How does their world differ from the one we live in? Do you think it’s a realistic vision of what awaits us?

4. What did you make of Flora’s love affair with Calum Geddes? Would their relationship --- and the Duncan women’s fate --- have been different if he had never found out about the bodies in the basement? Would the world itself have been different if Calum and Flora had stayed together?

5. Bessie, the ghost of Wild Hill, tells Phoebe, “This mansion was never meant for me.... It’s for all the others, of course.” Who are “all the others?” Why has it taken so many generations for them to arrive?

6. Of all the Duncan women’s powers --- foreseeing the future, talking with the dead, making poisons, healing --- which would you most like to have for yourself?

7. Do the women of Wild Hill accept their fate or make their fate? Bessie tells Flora, “I can show you a path that will change the world. Only it’s not yours.... For this path to begin, yours must end.” Was Flora’s decision really hers to make? Do her daughters have any more agency than she does? What would happen if they chose to disobey the Old One’s orders to return to Wild Hill?

8. Why did the Old One give the Duncan women the ability to influence the weather, plants and animals? What does control over the natural world signify? What parallels are drawn between the subjugation of women and the destruction of our environment? Who should be held responsible?

9. The original witch of Wild Hill tells Sadie that the Old One will call on her descendants to “begin the end of the rule of men.” What do you think that would look like in our world?

10. THE WOMEN OF WILD HILL has cameos by characters from Kirsten Miller’s previous novel, THE CHANGE. Did you recognize them? If you’ve read THE CHANGE, what role do you think its characters have to play in the Duncan sisters’ world?

11. Kirsten Miller was inspired by real-world figures when she created some of the characters in this novel. Do any of them seem familiar?

12. What do you think will become of Wild Hill and the Duncan women in the years after this novel ends? What kind of future do you see for them...and for the world?