Previously Loved Treasures is Book TWO of The Serendipity Series. Book ONE is the Twelfth Child, although both books are stand-alone stories there is one thing that ties Book ONE to Book TWO but you don’t need to read them in order. Feel free to use these discussion questions with your book group or club.
1) Previously Loved Treasures is set in the late 1980’s. Do you think this time frame shows in the story? Would the story have worked in another time period? Why or why not?
2) How important a role does food play in the story? Was it effective in drawing you into the story or not?
3) Ida waited to find her son, do you think she waited too long? Do you think there was something else she could have done differently to work out their relationship?
4) In the story we have some idea why Ida’s son didn’t contact his father, Big Jim, but what reason do you feel he used for not staying in contact with his mother?
5) Why did Caroline leave everything behind? Would you have acted sooner or waited longer to make a change? Is change easy or hard for you?
6) Ida was well-equipped to put her miscellaneous skills to work on making extra money. What skills do you have that could be used to make extra money in your life if you had to?
7) Do you feel Max could have been reasoned with? Was there something Ida could have done to make the transition easier? Should Ida have opened her home to him at all even though he was family?
8) Why do you think Caroline made the spontaneous decision to help a mother and child? If she had not intervened, what do you think would have happened to the family?
9) Wilbur wished he’d done something sooner after Ida died. Is there something you wish you’d done before it was too late? The story does have a theme of it is never too late. Do you agree? Why or why not?
10) Caroline worked but had a dream of being/doing something else. Is there a difference between what you do to make a living and what you dream of doing? Caroline doesn’t fulfill that dream by the end of the story, is it okay to dream of doing something but not act on it? Why or why not?
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