BOOK CLUB QUESTIONS for August Gale: A Father and Daughter’s Journey into the Storm:

How did the book’s personal journey about the author, her father, Nana, and Ambrose affect you? Did it stir up some stories/memories in your own family history?

Does your community, town, or city have its own historical tragedy or event?

The book has a strong religious theme and several scenes with the fishermen bringing their religious medals on board the schooners or throwing holy water into the sea and  ‘crossing the waves’ to calm the ocean. What do you think of the religious beliefs of the fishermen and their families?

What do the scenes tell you about Paddy Walsh’s beliefs, passions, and moral code?

Lillian Walsh and many other wives and mothers suffered after the sea claimed their husbands, sons, cousins and neighbors. They contended with their grief and they struggled to feed, clothe and nurture their children. How do you view these women and how they coped with their challenges?

Like the Marystown women, Patricia Walsh, Ambrose’s wife, and known as ‘Nana’ to the author, experienced her own struggles and heartache. What surprised you about Patricia and her actions in California?

What did you think of Father McGettigan before the gale claims several of Marystown’s men? What did you think of him after he has to go door to door to inform the families of their losses?

What did you think of Ambrose’s actions throughout the book; how he abandoned his family twice? Why do you think he made these choices?

Ambrose’s son Ronald was angry at his father for most of his life. How do you think traveling to his father’s Newfoundland birthplace and to his childhood homes in Brooklyn and Staten Island help heal him? How do you think Ronald changes at the book’s end? Why do you think Ronald made the journey to Marystown?

August Gale goes back and forth in time from present day to 1935. Did you enjoy the book’s format?