If your readers' group is discussing CASTLE OF THE WOLF, please feel free to contact me should you have any questions
about the novel or should you like me to discuss the book with you. While I most likely won't be able to come to you in
person (even though I'd love to, of course!), I'm sure we can find a way of communication that would suit us all.
In the following I have put together a few questions you might like to use as starting points for your discussion of CASTLE.
As always, I hope you will enjoy the journey to the Black Forest!
~*~
CASTLE OF THE WOLF was planned as a gothic romance. Did it really turn out to be one?
In interviews and on her blog, the author has often said that the gothicness was all stomped to dust -- literally. What
do you think is meant by that? And do you agree?
How would you characterize Cissy's relationship to her father? And to her brother?
What do you make of Dorinda? What is her status in the family -- before the old baron's death and after?
After we've seen the last of him in Chapter 2, Cissy's brother is hardly ever mentioned again -- what do you make of that?
In how far is Cissy's journey into the Black Forest also about finding a new family?
How would you characterize Fenris's relationship to his parents? And to his brother?
When did you notice that there was something not quite right about Leopold?
Do you think the Graf and the Gräfin are in some way responsible for the behaviour of their sons?
What did you think when you first read the scene in which Fenris & Cissy meet for the first time?
When does Cissy first fall in love with Fenris? And he with her?
What makes him so attractive to her? Is he really an attractive hero?
What did you make of their first love scene?
In how far do the "bedchamber scenes" at the beginning of Chapter 23 and at the end of Chapter 24 show the development
Cissy and Fenris have undergone?
Was their happy ending a satisfying and believable ending for you?
What role do stories, mythology and fairy tales play in the families of Fussell and von Wolfenbach?
In Chapter 2 George accuses his sister of confusing real life with a fairy tale. What is your opinion on this? Does Cissy
really confuse fiction and reality?
What role do stories play for the novel itself? And in how far does fiction become reality in the novel?
Are there any stories which are more important than others? How are they introduced and used in the course of the book?
In how far do the texts Cissy reads help to characterize her?
What was in your opinion the purpose of the author to include so many intertextual references in the novel?
(If you would like to find out more about the books and stories I used in CASTLE OF THE WOLF, go to the Castle Library
on the Members Pages and explore the Wolfenbach books!)
Return to the CASTLE OF THE WOLF main page
