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MESSENGER OF TRUTH
READING GROUP GUIDE
Discussion Questions
1. Messenger of Truth presents the problems of two very
different families, the Beales and the Bassington-Hopes. What qualities make
each family appealing? If they were real, which family would you rather
associate with, and why?
2. How do the various physical
settings of the novel — for instance, Nick’s converted railway
carriage, his parents’ strangely decorated mansion, and Stig
Svenson’s gallery — contribute to the mood of the scenes that occur
in those places?
3. In what ways is Maisie Dobbs, a
woman with working-class roots who has found a home in an intensely
logical profession, able to find common ground with the arty,
aristocratic Bassington-Hope family? What hidden similarities
attract her to Georgina and her dead brother?
4. After being wounded in the war,
Nick Bassington-Hope helps the war effort by producing propaganda
art, although he personally finds the war immoral and revolting. Is
his performance of this work an honorable service to his country or
a dishonorable betrayal of his own principles? Why?
5. Nolly Grant, the eldest of the
Bassington-Hope children, is rude and dismissive when she meets
Maisie, and she is generally seen as the odd person out in her
family. How, despite these facts, does Winspear create sympathy for
this initially cold and off-putting character?
6. In what ways do the relative
ages of the Bassington-Hope children appear to influence their
personalities and their interactions with one another?
7. In a rather poor attempt at
humor, Harry Bassington-Hope calls Maisie one of Georgina’s
“Amazons.” In what ways does Maisie’s status as an independent woman
work against her? On the other hand, are there ways in which her
feminine approach to her work makes her more effective than a man
would be in her position?
8. Were you surprised by the
outcome of the subplot concerning Lizzie Beale? Why? What depth or
dimension does this subplot add to the themes and structure the
novel?
9. As a “messenger of truth,” Nick
Bassington-Hope creates art that is extremely realistic and literal,
even down to using the faces of friends and family members in his
paintings. In so doing he risks invading the privacy of his
subjects. Does art need to be this literal and potentially intrusive
to be effective? If not, why does Nick insist so strongly on this
freedom? Do his artistic goals justify the private harm that he may
cause?
10. A subtle though recurrent image
in Messenger of Truth is the metaphor of the dance. Nick
writes on one of his American sketches, “I can dance with life
again.” Maisie is literally reluctant to dance, but at the end of
the novel, she adopts Nick’s earlier statement, signaling a desire
to reengage with the world. How does the imagery of the dance relate
to the novel as a whole? |
